This was written as an assignment for my grade 12 religion class, which I recently re-discovered. Interesting for me to read, to see how it aligns with that which I believe now, but likely boring as hell for others. Enjoy at your own risk.

Friendship is very important in a person’s life, no matter who they are. It is practically a human necessity to have someone’s shoulder to cry on, or to talk about absolutely inane things with. To me, friends are of great importance, even though there are aspects of friendship that one must be careful of.

Since I was young, I have always had a smaller group of friends. I believe this is because I would rather have a few good friends than many acquaintances. Maybe I’m just cheap and don’t want to buy lots of birthday and Christmas presents. Either way, I have always believed that friends are like so many things in life: quality is more important than quantity. Sometimes, I just need someone to talk to, and I am much more comfortable talking to somebody I know well. Sure, having a lot of close friends with whom you can talk would be nice, but friendship does require a fair amount of effort, and that probably would not be easy.

Friends are very important in my life, but there are certain aspects of friendship which can be somewhat dangerous. When you get to know someone really well, you tend to share rather personal information with them. This is why I prefer to have a smaller circle of friends: the fewer people I tell sensitive things to, the less chance there is of it becoming public. Although real friends would never reveal secrets about you, some will turn against you. This sort of action, whether done through malice, revenge, or envy, is one of the dangers of having friends. I have never had this problem. Perhaps this is because I am a very mellow person, and so are many of my friends. Perhaps it is because I rarely talk to any but my closest about sensitive things. Perhaps it is a combination of both. Either way, I have never broken up with a friend- for example, I have been friends with Johnathan since grade 2. Friendship is a very important thing to have in life, and even though it has its risks, just like everything else, it is one of the surest recipies for happiness.