While reading quite a number of blog posts this morning and issuing forth comments like confetti, I started wondering why I do it - why I write a blog.
The common reason I give out is “that I would go insane otherwise”, but that’s an easy (and rather glib) answer, isn’t it?
Why do I blog? I think I might know. I have very few friends, and little scope to make new ones due to work and family commitments - therefore blogging becomes my way of reaching out - to interact with others.
Perhaps the term “friend” should be qualified a little more accurately - or even chopped into the different type of friend I might have;
The Old Friend
These are the friends that have either known you since childhood, or for more years than you care to recall. When you spend time together, the infrequency doesn’t seem to matter - you are instantly catching up on news as if you had only seen each other the day before. You don’t need to make conversation - you can sit in silence and it’s not uncomfortable.
The Best Friend
I am lucky enough to call somebody my best friend - and I know (through having such a friend) that it is a rare thing, and should be cherished. Somebody to confide in, to share secrets and thoughts with. Somebody who is there when others are not, and does things for you without request. Above all, your relationship with a best friend typically goes no further - you do not share your bond with others. It is yours. You worry about each other.
The Good Friend
Good friends are those who know you well, and you them. They are there when you need them, and you have shared good and bad times together. You know each other well enough to know anything is wrong without being told. You enjoy each other’s company, and make time to visit or contact each other.
The Friend
Most friends fall into this category. You have at times perhaps been good friends, and you may be again - but you do not see each other as much as you might like, and you both wish when you do meet that you had made more effort to see or get in touch with each other.
The Acquaintance
You know each other, but have never become close. They may be the friend of a friend, or somebody that you happened to have a conversation with at that party, or you’re on the list of people they email jokes to.
So there you go. Thinking about those who I might call my own friends, although I have very few “flesh and blood” friends, I have met many people through blogging, forums, social networks, and various other means on the internet that I would have no hesitation in calling friends. We know each other. We take time to read each other’s blogs, we send emails, we recount each other’s stories, and we watch out for each other on instant messengers.
It’s a strange world - this internet - where we have so many friends that we have never met, and a great many of which we may never meet.