The Value of Friendships
By Dr. Synesio Lyra, Jr.
Persons who don’t care for other people, have a hard time understanding that friendships can be genuine and lasting; they are also cherished by those who make a sincere effort to establish and maintain them.
Regardless of geographical distances separating true friends, their relationships can be just as real as if they resided in the same city, and were able to see one another with some regularity.
Since my childhood I came to learn the true significance of friendships. I have also viewed friends always as divine agents, ready at all times to encourage, ever willing to respond when contacted, and consistently disposed to do whatever they can that will make a difference in another’s life!
Although friendships should always be real, and mutually edifying, there are some which are legitimately temporary, due to circumstances that change, geographical barriers that develop, and on account of the completion of joint tasks which made those friendships initially possible, but mostly for that limited duration.
Nevertheless, even when certain friendships are momentary, their dissolution does not entail enmity; it simply indicates that its purposes were fulfilled and the remembrance shall remain with its participants. Furthermore, it can be renewed at any point and develop into new and better levels!
One of the greatest values of true friendship is in what a friend can do for another friend, without expecting equal or greater favors to be repaid. Genuine friendships look more to what can be provided than to what may be personally advantageous. Yet, many “fringe” benefits shall always come from friendships established on solid ground and stable foundations!
I never forget hearing a public address in which the speaker alluded to a precious friend of his, of whom he stated: “Just knowing that he is alive in the world is reason for true rejoicing.” And so it should be. I am perpetually blessed by friendships I still hold in different parts of the world in spite of infrequent personal contacts. Nevertheless, they are very real, and that’s what counts most!
Having said that, I still recommend that friendships, at any stage of their development, be always treated as a tender plant in need of nourishment and other elements which can make it thrive and grow. In so doing, let us ever remember that it’s not so much what we can derive from it but, far more, what we can impart to those friends, anywhere in the globe!
