Choosing Friends and Why It Matters

Friendship “A friend is, as it were, a second self”. (Cicero 106-46 BC). Friendship is one of the most beautiful relations that a person can have during his lifetime. Unlike family, friendship is not an obligation to an individual. An individual does not have the choice to choose his family but he can choose his friends. Friendship can begin at any stage of an individual’s life; childhood, teenage, adult and old age. Friendship has its different effects on individuals; it could have a positive as well as a negative effect. Hence, it is very important to choose the right kind of people as friends. Friends can be of different types. There are the ones who are “just friends” or acquaintances. These are the people which an individual usually chooses to be socially liable. The other type is the “real” or close friends. These are the ones who you choose to share your emotions, personal matters or in other words someone who you can bond with. Friends can influence most of the decisions that an individual makes in one’s life. Therefore, it is very important to have friends who bring positive effects in your life. In order for a friend to bring positive effects in your life, the friend himself should have a good character, a good personality and good ethics. When the friend has these good qualities he will have a positive impact on an individual’s life because people tend to involuntarily imitate the actions of the person who you spend time with. This kind of a friend never lets you down, no matter in which situation you are in. They always try to motivate and encourage you to do the right things and stop you from doing wrong things. For instance, a good friend will encourage you to turn in your assignment on time rather than forcing you to procrastinate by offering you to go to a movie. But in ones life it is almost impossible for someone to have only good friends as negative people come along. Another type of friendship is the one which brings negative effects