Okay its that time again.. NeoWolf is pondering once more.

Tonight I'd like to share some thoughts on Friendship and what it means to me.

I'm not sure how others view the defintion of friendship, indeed over my life I have been left with the impression that despite having had hundreds of friends, only a handful of them have been what I truly define as being a "friend".

The Collins dictionary defines a friend as being nperson whom one knows well and likes; supporter and ally.

But to me that does not define friendship as the description above is entirely one sided, whereas friendship, true friendship is entirely reciprocal.

I can like someone and support them when in need without being thier friend as such things actions make an acquiantance. I can offer support or aid to someone i've just met without being thier friend, and indeed I can like someone without ever needed or having spoken to them, but it doesnt make them my friend or me thiers. Although I may be more predisposed and therfore "friendly" toward such people.

But in my mind true friendship is an outlook of mutual liking, support and alliance, common ground and outlooks shared by both sides of the equation, and going by such a definition I have had only a handful of "true" friends, indeed I can name them without difficulty.

Andrew Baker, Rachel Booth, Donna "Donut" Bish, Steven Butler, Christopher "frodo" Youle, Daniel "scoff" Scothorne, and Leia Booker. Ironically only one of whom I am still in contact with (due to moving over the years and having lost touch).

Yes I had just as many female friends as male friends, although as an aside I dont entirely refute the claim that men and women cant be "just" friends as truth is of the women I mention above I loved every one of them and always will, though was never a couple with any of the three.

Each one of those individuals has at some point in my life been a real and true friend and on such a level I have reciprocated that friendship entirely, those people were there for me, they didn't judge, they were always willing to listen, they had my back and showed real concern and support when needed and vice versa in all regards, indeed I have even bled for my friends when occasion has necessitated it (though that is another blog or two entirely).

I find it unusual then that in this day and age we use the term "friend" so readily.. I think its meaning has been watered down in our minds somewhat in much the same way as words like "love", or "Commitment" have. We are so used to hearing them we no longer associate the strong and bonding things they represent in quite the same way. We fling them out like seed to the soil without any real thought as to thier meaning, and as a result of this people don't tend to associate the words when we use them in quite the ways we may hope.

Everyone of those friends I remember with warmness and always will, and in the case of Ms Bish she will remain my first true love till my dying day. And I hope they have all had very happy and fortuitious lives, and that true unhappiness, and tragedy has, and continues to overlook them.

So I put it to you fellow readers, how do you view the word "Friend" do those you call friend view it the same way? How many of those you use the term in reference too really are your true friends as opposed to those you are friendly with?

And further to this I urge you that in using the term to those whom you view this way, to mean it in the defintion in which it is most purely and truely represented.. Friendship should come from the heart and it should be binding and meaningful and be rewarding to you both.

Peace.