A Childlike View

Do you remember how easy it was to make friends as a child? All you needed was a smile, or something small in common, like your names, or your love of barbies, and bam, new friend found. It never mattered where your friend was from, who they knew, or who their families were. It never mattered which of you had the ‘better’ life – these things simply don’t occur to kids. There may have been the odd jealousy over a friend’s prettier barbie or cooler toy car collection – but in the grand scheme of things, you were friends, and that was that.

As an adult I find it so much  harder. Firstly, the opportunities to meet people gets less and less. Once you’ve passed through university, meeting new people mostly comes from mutual friends, or at work. For me, I don’t even have the work option since I work in my family’s business. Bummer.

Even holding on to current friendships seems to be a path fraught with obstacles, unspoken truths, and silent resentments. So few people ever say what they really think, keeping their mouths for the sake of not rocking the boat, or risking upsetting someone. I find that all this does is break down communication, and where there is bad communication, there is fertile ground for misunderstandings.

Maybe this is just my experience, but today’s society seems to have bred a population of self-orientated people – caring about others and helping them out is an out-dated concept of the past. It saddens me to think that sometimes, even your friends aren’t a sure thing.

I once had a friend ask me why I needed her support, seeing as I have a husband and a loving, close-knit family. The question stopped me cold, and it just made me think about how much people don’t want to bear anyone else’s problems. In my opinion, this world would be a much better place if more people took the time to be there, to be a real friend.

Add comment May 27, 2011