Midterm Post 1. Andrew Wheeler sec. 8

My group of posts will be concerning the philosophy of friendship.

This post will mostly discuss the concept and purposes of friendship.

Friendship is of course the relationship of friends. Friends can be described as two or more people

who mutually like each other. Friendship carries with the responsibility to support, mutual respect, and

love, knowing the same will be shown for you. A friend can be a necessary extension of one's self, as the

German proverb says, "The death of a friend is equivalent to the loss of a limb." The proverb exemplifies

how friends are not only necessary, but the better friends you have the stronger you are.

The beginning of a friendship is usually something like a business deal. There is some sort of advantage

to each person that initiates the friendship, and the mutual respect and love comes later. I assume most people

can think of friendships that started based on just that same principle. I know for me personally, I got to know

my best friend because of a similar situation. The summer after we had graduated high school we were just

mere acquaintances. A couple weeks into that summer he needed a place to hang out when he was not at

work where he could smoke cigarettes ( his parents were unaware of this behavior at the time), and I ( still

being not of an age where some gas stations would sell me cigarettes) needed someone to buy me cigarettes.

We had been acquaintances because of the local car enthusiast community, but this mutual need is what

brought us together. Our interest in cars kept us as friends, and we are now two of those who everyone calls

for help, opinions, pictures, etc. It might not be of interest to people reading, but it is relevant to say that we

have managed to make it to a respectable place in the car community in the last few months. This is largely

due to our friendship. We can do more as friends than either one of can do individually. This goes along

with Aristotle's saying that "The whole is more than the sum of its parts."

Mutual respect is generally what takes people out of the business deal stage of friendship. It is normally

earned through common interests or some sort of admiration. Basically if you walk into a class and there is

an open seat next to someone who smells weird and one open next to someone wearing your favorite band's

T-shirt, you probably will not find yourself next to smelly. Also, if you get a chance to meet said favorite band

you will make attempts at friendship, just because you think they are "cool." Respect is also earned by

showing respect (take a penny leave a penny anyone?) or just showing that you care about the well being

of said other person. Just like anyone knows, there are people that you can call throughout the day that might

help you if you need it, and there are people that will help you no matter what at any time of the day. It is the

latter category that earns strong mutual respect amongst friends. That mutual respect will make friends want

to be inseperable, as the old joke says, " a friend will bail you out of jail, a best friend will be sitting next to you."