Musings: Hierarchy of Friends

Now what we learn in life, what we imbibe is often a mystery to us even a few years after we learn that. This is because we are always learning, always changing. Here is what I thought of friendships a few years back. Read on.

Ever hear people talking about close friends, best friends? The first question that pops into my head when someone introduces me to the difference between pals and true friends, is why the discrimination That was when we were all too little and conveniently innocent to wonder about the miracles of trust. The golden age where self interest hasn't yet been discovered! Then all of us entered a stage in our life where if someone hung out with us the whole day he/she would be our 'bestest' friend, and if someone didn't return the pencil they borrowed, we 'hated' them. Ignorance is certainly bliss when we know not the meaning of strong words like love, and hate. The sad part being we didn't know what the word friend meant either.

Fittingly it was self interest that showed me the world for what it was: a giant barter system, where everyone served their self interest, and I learned, that in such a hell, if there is someone who cared for me truly, then that was a true friend. Ironically, it is a field where there is no black and white, just various shades of grey - so there maybe a friend who is partly with you for fulfilling his self interest, but that does not say explicitly that he doesn't care for you. So how do we know whom to trust, and whom not to???

This justifies the bringing in of hierarchy. acquaintances, pals, friends, close friends, best friends, even a new concept called soul friend. The irony of such categorization of friends is that we learn new things daily and new incidents change our outlook of life. And so the position of any person in any one slot is not confirmed, just like it is not necessary that I be committed to the same lady for the rest of my life (although that's exactly how I wish it to be) and so its stupid to write her name on stone, right?

So my question at the end of this long boring monologue is... why categorize friends, when surely they are not going to stay in any one category forever!