Friends: The Reason We Live Contentedly

Hayley Matusow, Prozdor Grade 10

Mencius said it right when he said, “Friendship is one mind in two bodies.” I have made many major decisions and experienced many things in my life. Without my friends, I would have never been able to get through the tough times. Friends can, not only be another person in your class or your camp friends. A friend can be a parent or a sibling. I believe a friend is someone you can talk with when you are either upset or happy, and you feel comfortable with. A friend is someone who respects you as you should respect them as well.

Going to camp for the first year at age 10, I knew all but two older girls. The first night I will admit, I was homesick and lonely. By the end of the week, the seven other girls in cabin were my new seven best friends. At the end of the week, we had all experienced song and cheer together and we were all living and breathing each other’s stupid comments. I never truly understood the reason for my parents sending me to camp until the end of my last summer. It was then that I realized that camp was an opportunity to make friends who you cherish and get through obstacles with. With no parents, my friends were the next best things in my camp life. After leaving my camp, I learned to treasure my friends at home as well.

When my grandmother died last year, I went through a period of shock. I did not really know how react in certain situations. When I came home from her funeral, all of my friends came over to talk to me and tell me how sorry they were. They each brought me my homework from school and I knew they cared. In hard times, you can tell how much your friends care about you and you should cherish anytime you get to share with them because you never know when something may happen and you will have to part.

I talk to my friends everyday. In many ways they know more about my life than I do and I am thankful that they care. I respect my friends and I believe they respect me as much or even more. I believe that friends are the main reason people are able to get through obstacles. I believe that friends are people you are able to open up to, and I know if I did not have caring friends, I would not be able to live because I would have to keep all my thoughts bottled up inside me. I believe along with my parents, my friends are the reason I act how I act and appreciate as much as I do. I love my friends.