People, by the simple fact of being human, need contact with other people. There are of course, outliers that shun this idea of community, but this is not the norm by any stretch of the imagination. This need for contact is apparent, obviously so, in the fact that we function as a society. Indeed, we are even breaching national lines and growing to a global society. A community of individuals (a city, a neighborhood, a church, etc.) is this need being fulfilled on the large-scale. On the opposite end, the small-scale, is friendship. This very personal relationship between two people consists (usually) of a mutual trust and faith in one another, emotional support, and common interests. From this base, there are as many unique examples of friendship as there are comics in Questionable Content (in other words, too damn many to talk about in a single sitting). Like branches on a tree, each friendship spiders out into numerous definitions based on each individual need of the people involved. Keeping with the tree-analogy, a single person may have many different friendships like the branches of a tree. Some may be sturdy and supportive branches, others wispy and superficial, while many fall in between the two. Regardless of the type of friendship/branch, all types support and define the tree. Branches can grow and become more and more of the tree, just as friends can mean more and more to a person. If a branch gets infected, it must be removed or it will spread. Likewise, an infected and negative friend needs to be removed or distanced from you if you want to live a healthy life (this type of health is about mental and emotional health typically... although, physical health can be at stake as well). The requirements for a friendship to occur between two people are so minimal, if any effort is made by both parties, the seed will be set and a friendship begun. For example, two completely opposite people, from different worlds, can connect because of the most random events - case in point, Legolas and Gimli forged a friendship that began in mutual hatred and distrust before realizing that they were not so different as they thought.
As for the application in my life, I love and cherish my friends very much. As a person, I am rather quiet and introverted (IFTJ the last time I checked), my friends are typically very close and deep friends but are also not numerous at all. The ideal for me is a core group of close friends that I can trust intimately and that can trust in me to the same degree, sharing quality time and adventures together... or if I'm being honest, more likely Netflix on a couch with a pizza delivery on the way (I'm looking at your Jackie). I thank God that I have found this in both Kansas City as well as Oklahoma City. The friendships that I share remind me every day to be thankful for them and the security they bring. This is not to say, however, that my identity is wrapped up in my friends. In fact, by no means is this true. Independence is just as important to me as community. Regardless, my friends and I have effects on each other. Most of them are positive, a few of them are neutral, and a very small amount are negative. From romantic friendship with my girlfriend, to the friends that I have been cultivating for my entire life, to the budding friend that I'm just now able to explore.
The flip side of the beginning of friendships is the end of friendships. Not typically a subject that is viewed in a good light, but I think that - in the case of a diseased branch of a tree analogy - it is necessary and a healthy action that must occur if the self is to survive intact and wholesome. There are friends who gently fade away into obscurity, simply losing contact and growing apart from each other - these are the easiest to deal with, but perhaps the saddest, because there once was such vibrancy between these two people. But there are also friends that violently leave through anger or hurt - perhaps the hardest to deal with, but also not uncommon. Perhaps this person became someone that you didn't like (or more likely were always this person but you never saw it), or perhaps there was a disagreement that could not be settled, or maybe some other thing separated them from you. Pain and hurt follow this, betrayal and doubt too. My favorite way (odd to say it that like that) to be separated from a friend is through death. Because then you know that nothing has separated the two of you and you've conquered the world together.
Too many ideas are floating through my head right now... and too much coffee. Fingers shaking and brain going in circles. I'm going stop here and probably take a fat nap somewhere (my bed if I can make it there without passing out) to relax. Until next time y'all.
"Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend." - Albert Camus
