FRIENDS OR COMPANIONS

All my life I have had loads of Friends and am sure most of us, if we are the gregarious kind and who trust everyone easily, will have. When you are in school, if you have the maximum circle of friends, you definitely are the most popular kinds. Everyone would look upto you. Sometimes, they would even try and do things that you do or wear clothes the kinds you wear and much more. All this is just great till you are in school. But what matters is how many of these friends really last or are "with you" through all phases of your life. As I have grown, as the eyars have passed by, I have realised that there are very few, just as many as your fingers, who are with you through your thick and thin. The sooner you learn to filter your friends the better. I am using the word filter because, most of the times, the more time we spend with our chosen friends for life, we start believing that they are evrything to us. We create a world of fun around us, but somehow apprecitae it only when it has our "best friends" in it. This , everyone would agree, is true 80% of the time.
But of course, theres another face to this.
When you start living your life with those few friends, one thing is bound to happen. Either you or your friend would start taking you for granted. You would never relaise this even if its been happening all the time, but, it would start pinching only when something in your normal life goes a little abnormal. Or, maybe when you start expecting a lot more than required from your freind. There are times, when "you" would consider your friend as "The Best friend for Life" only to realise that only "YOU" consider them as your best friend. Its not the same the other way. Or you would be dying to meet your friend after a long long holiday only to see that your friend is too busy just to say a "HI". Or you just want to meet your friend to say a Goodbye as you know you are not gonna have them beside you for long, only to see that your friend doesnt even care! How many of us have felt this time and again with some or the other friend/friends?
I just want to say that you need to be extremely lucky to be 60 and still have the friends who were with you when you were 20. Its always better to have a balance and hold on your feelings for a friend. The best way to do that is expect the least. Try and give more in friendship than to ask more. Try as many friends as you can because to find one true friend is like eating a melon.Try and be there for your friend only as much as the friend needs you. Do not overdo, sometimes it really becomes difficult to deny or avoid. Try and be the first one to apologise if things go wrong, coz if you have found a true friend, its too bad to lose the treausre just like that. I can go on and on which most of us know and do all our lives... But do all this only if your friend is really worth it, if not, try, once, twice, thrice...then move on, and start a new search, a new trust, a new faith...!!!
One friend who can be with you till your last breath is worth a thousand friends who last with you as long as you are in the same school or as long as you are in the same organization....these are just "Companions"!
I am lucky coz I know who are my "Companions" and who are my "Friends"!!! :)
Do you know? Start knowing them, its worth the precious smile!!