My two best friends in the literary world are Anna Karenina and Winnie the Pooh. One keeps telling me romantic love Sucking game is different friendship is eternal. But Tolstoy’s classic is not only about friendship; this is a guide on how not to fall under the train. If only Anna had a good friend to talk to who metaphorically made some sense to her, maybe this story would have had a happier ending.
Winnie the Pooh and Piglet, as we all know, are the epitome of true love. “We’ll be friends forever, won’t we, Pooh?” Piglet asked. “Even more,” replied Pooh.
(Point to platonic passion.)
“As soon as I saw you, I knew a great adventure was about to begin.”
(Be still, my heart.)
There have been many, many, many studies on the importance of friendship and its effects on our physical and mental health.
Decades of research show that friendships are not only enriching; It is important to live longer and healthier lives.
In one multi-reference studyresearchers monitored the health of nearly 7,000 Californians for more than 17 years. They found that those with no social connections were 2-3 times more likely to die at a younger age than their more connected counterparts.
Recently, A review of 38 research articles Published between 2000 and 2019, many studies have found evidence that high-quality friendships can significantly improve a person’s well-being.
And, yes, I believe we can be friends with books. Ben Johnson (the writer, not the actor) agrees with me. He wrote in his epigram 86:
When I know you… I think
On your good choice of friends and books;
So I love you, and now I see your consequences
Make your friends a book and your book a friend.
But in the human world, I have more than a few, but less than a few, best friends. I have never had anything other than a best friend. This is a competition at the end of the work. This is the gold standard. Trans friends aren’t really friends. In the landscape of our lives, transactional friends are messy.
There are some really good songs about the power of friendship, and in my humble opinion, the best song by Carole King (often sung by James Taylor) is “You’ve Got a Friend.” I recently discovered the reason why this song continues to touch every beating heart as it did when it first appeared 50 years ago.
Taylor wrote, recorded and released her hit song “Fire and Rain” with the lyrics “I saw”. solitude times when I didn’t have friends.” According to Taylor, King told her that he wrote “You have a boyfriend” in response to the line. How cool is that?
Some of my best friends have been a part of my life for many years, from elementary school, middle school, and high school. Some I met at my first real job. Some best friends have come and gone, but I still think of them fondly and gratitude. And my last friend appeared only a few years ago. Our lives expand to accommodate the friends we need
Most writers agree that EB White has given the best definition of what we need to achieve. It appears in those last two lines Charlotte’s Webin which White writes, “No one can be found who is a true friend and a good writer. Charlotte was both.”
My hope is that it is both, and in that order.
