Furthermore…

They had a discussion page at my Catholic Friends group about friends. A lot of the contributions were quite thought provoking. I got to thinking about the different meanings ‘friend’ might have. I remember a big kid in my neighborhood I would pass on the street who would always say “Hello, friend” in a somewhat unusual, grown up tone. Then one day I found out he had fellatio on his mind.
Some of the Internet businesses make the suggestion that all you need to do to succeed is sign up a few of your friends. They, supposedly, will sign up a few of theirs, so that a massive network will get formed. I always say to myself, “If I sign up my friends for that deal, they won’t be friends any more!”
Social networks on the Internet are set up so that members want to have a large number of ‘friends’ to feel proud of, even though they might be mostly people one never met and never will meet.
Salesmen appear to want to become your friend, if only until the deal is closed. They sometimes even ask to have a list of your friends, so they can be temporary friends with them too.
A different kind of friend, the truest of all, comes to mind on recalling the old Christian song, What A Friend We Have In Jesus. He is a Friend in need, and a Friend indeed!