Friends

3 Pages 709 Words

Friends

Ever since I was a child, my mother raised me to recognize and appreciate various kinds of friends. There are three different kinds of friends in this life. I classify them according to how well I know them and how well they know me. We encounter each of them everyday, whether in school, home, or work, but rarely spend much time actually thinking about and classifying these people. First, there are the "pest friends"- general acquaintances. Next, there are "guest friends"- social partners. Lastly, we have "best friends"- our true friends.
The first type of friend is simply an acquaintance. This means that you basically only know their name. You may not even remember what they look like if you do not see them for a while. Usually, you meet these types of friends in school, at work, at a party, through others, or anywhere else you might be. You normally would not mind having a cup of coffee with them, but if anything else came up, you usually would have no problem parting company. You normally don’t miss them when they are elsewhere. It is also this type of friends who gives you the most amount of aggravation. Since most of the time you are placed in a position where you have to act friendly, such as school or work, you would not normally tell an acquaintance when he or she is doing something irritating, such as tapping the fingers an a table or chewing gum loudly. Therefore they are ordained "pest friends."
The second category of friends I call "social partners." This is because they are closer than acquaintances, but nowhere near as close as a true friend. Social partners are usually acquaintances who evolve into "guest friends" through increased extracurricular activities. You know their name, a little of what they like or dislike, a little of their family history, and usually have several things in common. As the saying goes, "Birds of a feather flock together.” No one is going to want to spend any more time th...