Being a good friend is not as simple as we think, you realize that you are a good friend when someone can look in your eyes and say: “yes, I trust you!” without hesitation. Friendship is an innocent and natural feeling that makes us human. A true friend never leaves you alone, even in this period of covid, where you cannot see, hug or kiss.

Friends play a key role in our life: we can tell them everything we want, they don’t judge us for what we do, think or say. They support us fixing our chaos and making us stronger. They can provide comfort and joy, reduce stress, prevent loneliness and isolation, even when we are bullied at school or in any other social environment. You don’t always need to meet or call them every day, you just need to know that when you will need them, they’ll be there for you. “A friend in need‘s a friend indeed”.

But we must admit that those who know you best know how to hurt you best, so look out for false friends!

If I asked you to think about an example of true friendship, you would think nothing but the iconic TV series “FRIENDS”. Of course, those are only actors and they’re just acting, but they convey unique sensations about what true friendship really means. They prove how much friendship can be fundamental in everyone’s life. You always need a friend no matter what age you are, no matter what problem you are going through, against whichever monster you are fighting against. A real friend knows when it’s time to help you.

Today the social networks are making us redefine friendship: there’s no more pen friend but social friends. The ways we connect to each other are changing and so it is friendship. Thanks to social networks we can connect with many people at once and even find school or classmates that we haven’t seen for years. We may also get in touch with those who share our same desires, passions and hobbies. In fact, we can become part of themed groups, such as football, painting or writing ones. But how many of our Facebook “friends” are really our friends? We can just feel more isolated in these times when we seem to meet more people online than in person. But friends on social networks can be very harmful. First of all because we never have the certainty of who is on the other side, but also because by devoting too much time to people online, we can end up neglecting our true friends in real life. Those companions that we can touch, hug and play with. The ways we connect to each other are changing and so it is friendship, and we’re afraid to lose the real ones.

Talking about my experiences, once a friend of mine didn’t say to me that she was invited to our friend’s birthday party, but I didn’t. She went to that party, she had fun playing with her others friends. I was really sad that night, I thinking a lot about what was wrong with me, if I accidentally said or did something bad to her and I started blaming myself. But then I thought that I wasn’t guilty, that I didn’t being aggressive or angry with her, that I wasn’t the problem: she was just a false friend. So I promised myself that I wouldn’t let this kind of people overwhelm me anymore, making me being respect by those people.