Written by Justin Akadonye

Would you stand by me if others don’t believe in me? Would you tell me the truth or only say the things I want to hear. Would you stand your ground and tell me that I’m wrong even if you feel I would get offended?

These are some conversations that friends should have, wonder what your answers to those question will be.

I once told a friend that: Friendship dwells beyond what we see and that it’s more than rivers running into seas. Friendship speaks deep and so much it reaps. It stays with the smiles and cries and yet it never sighs.

Friends! Love them, hate them; yet they abound and form part of our everyday lives. There’s a popular talk of “No man being an island” and all that blah! blah! Sometimes I wonder what gives. The bible talks of friendship that sticks closer than brotherhood. Do we still have that?

What is friendship to you? Well! Because I feel that most of us do not understand its profound essence, I will talk about it.

Yeah! Do we only show it when we hang out or do drinks with ‘friends’ or colleagues? Do we find it when we call someone we haven’t spoken to for a while, and our heart flutters? Or is it just another necessity of life?

Whatever you may think, I believe that friendship is sacrificial, deep and not superficial.

Friends are not kept just to meet ends but they are like family we’ve come to love, and also people on whose shoulders and loyalty we could depend on.

Friendship fills a space that is vacuumed by long days and waits… it always stays!

Someone once thought that he had friends but was soon disillusioned that they were only in his life because of common interest shared(work) and as soon as that interest was severed, they were nowhere to be found, swiftly gone with the wind.

Is friendship only about fair-weather or just good times; or should it be through thick and thin?

I shouldn’t just be friends with you just because I bought “aso-ebi” at your wedding, but rather because  I see you as someone I care about, someone whose needs come before mine, someone I could go the distance for.

Friendship should be sweet; because friends help the heartbeat. Friends should be for a lifetime, friends should never be seasonal or some “spur of the moment” thingy.

How can you call me “friend” when we haven’t spoken in months? How can I be your friend when you don’t feel my pain or even have an inkling of what I do or even in my pastime? How can we be friends when my only presence is the contact on your phone (you hardly even call me)? I could go on and on.

True! We have busy lives and crazy schedules and may not always have time to be there, but the greater truth lies in the fact that we will never have time at our disposal except we create it. Time and tide, they say, waits for no man (or is it no one?), let’s do the right thing when we can.

When I think of good friends, I smile, because their worth speaks volume. I feel bad, sometimes, when I really haven’t been there as much as I should for them; but I always try in the least to send a quick SMS. That way they’d know that they still live not just in my thoughts alone but also in my heart.

I know of a place where friendship stays. It houses an avalanche of warmth and trust; it’s also devoid of tears. Its voice suppresses fears and erases doubts. It is founded on love and it is always enough. I know this for sure because friendship stays in my house and I live there.

In conclusion, I’d say that friendship is a life-long journey, might not always be coated with honey but it stays and waits through; whether the days be cloudy or sunny!!