Friendship

1. Friendship. What is it exactly? A smile or a laugh shared with someone whom you enjoy spending time? Or is it something deeper, something bigger and more profound than all of us? Why does one need friends anyway? Theoretically, we all could exist separately without them. But for some reason, humans feel the need to bond together and create close relationships that can last a lifetime or be broken in a second. Everyone that lives and breathes feels the need for friendship in one way or another because no one wishes to ultimately spend their life alone. This blackness, this silence, and this solitude with no friendship is what everyone fears.

2. In Tuesdays With Morrie, Morrie and Mitch have the deep connection of friendship. From the beginning, when Mitch sits down in Morrie's class, he can tell that this professor is different. He can tell that Morrie is someone who can listen to and understand him. Morrie's first words to Mitch amaze him. Morrie says," Mitchell?... Do you prefer Mitch? Or is Mitchell better?" Mitch then writes, "I had never been asked this by a teacher. I do a double take at this guy in his yellow turtleneck and green corduroy pants. Mitch I, say. Mitch is what my friends call me." Morrie then replies, "Well, Mitch it is then... And Mitch? I hope that someday you will think of me as your friend." This quote demonstrates that Morrie is such a good and real person that he wants to befriend even the students that walk into his class. Morrie really demonstrates the true definition of friendship. No matter who you are or where you come from, you should always be kind to others and you might discover the relationship of a lifetime. This relationship between professor and student did develop into a great relationship and the two spend much time together. Mitch says that he always feels comfortable around Morrie and they get along extraordinarily well. He writes, "We go beyond the classroom, meeting now and then to just talk. I have never done this before with an adult who wasn't a relative, yet I feel comfortable doing it with Morrie, and he feels comfortable making the time." This quote really shows the fact that these two men are truly friends. They understand each other without speaking and they are as comfortable with each other as they are in their own skin. They are true friends because they don't simply look on the surface of their different characters. They look within to see and determine how the other thinks and how they feel about life. Mitch and Morrie are dear friends to each other and they will remain this way even until Morrie's death, which demonstrates that even if there is loss in a friendship, the friendship still continues unwaveringly.

3. I agree with the ideas that these quotations are demonstrating because they are the core of friendship. Looking beyond the surface, being a loyal companion to someone even though there is no hope for them, and simply being there for someone in their time of need are all part of friendship. Mitch and Morrie demonstrate these ideas on a student to teacher basis and later on in life when they have both grown into different people. I think that this is wonderful that they were able to have such a strong relationship in college and then pick right up where they left off many years later. Even though they were once separated, they still found ways back to each other and I believe that this is also one of the most important elements of friendship. No matter the distance or amount of time that separates two people, if they are true friends and companions they will always find a way back to each other in the end.

4. Finally, my question for you, the reader, is as follows: What do you think the true definition of friendship is? Do you have someone that you are close to that fits this description?