Writing Prompt #3

What characteristics do you value most in a friend? Explain why they are important.

The characteristics that  I value most in a friend are honesty, loyalty, and a sense of humor.

When I choose friends, I choose them carefully. I feel that there is a difference between befriending a person, and just being friendly to them. I believe that friends are people you deliberately put yourself around to strengthen your qualities as a human being, as well as your characteristics as a friend. There is nothing wrong with just being friendly to someone. That just means that you are being wise as to not putting yourself around them as much as you would your friends. You have to be friendly to people, regardless the attitude they may have or the dislike they may have against you. You are wise in not setting yourself around them on a regular basis.

1) If you are deliberately setting yourself around people who you want to call "friends", people who will support you and build you up as a human being, then the need to do just that: support and build. A key characteristic in doing that is honesty. They need to hold you accountable for all that you are doing. Whether it be through encouragement in something positive that you  are  doing, or by telling you that what you are doing might have a negative effect on your life, they need to be honest about how they feel you are doing as a person. This doesn't mean that they are condemning you, it just means that they are giving you input. You should trust this input since you have chosen them as friends, so you should expect them to do so.

2) I also feel that loyalty is a good characteristic to have in a friend. If a person is one way when they are around you, and then completely different when they are around someone else, talking about you behind your back and putting on a mask to please others, do not label them as "friend." Set yourself around someone who will support you, stick up for you, and does not change who they  are when around others.

3) You can't have  a good friendship without a good sense of humor! It is healthy to, after a long and stressful day, to have someone to share a laugh with. It will benefit you physically, emotionally, and mentally to have the ability to joke with someone who you trust, are honest with, and loyal to.

Without these characteristics, it wouldn't be called a "friendship". . . it would just be an "acquaintance"