Friendship is an affective relationship that can be established between two or more individuals, to which fundamental values such as love, loyalty, solidarity, unconditionality, sincerity and commitment are associated, and that is cultivated with regular treatment. and reciprocal interest over time.
The word friendship comes from the Latin amicĭtas, amicitātis, which is derived from amicitĭa, which means ‘friendship’. This, in turn, comes from amīcus, which translates ‘friend’. This last term, on the other hand, comes from the verb amāre, which means ‘to love’.
Friendship can arise between men and women, boyfriends, husbands, relatives with any kind of bond, people of different ages, religions, ideologies, cultures, social extraction, etc. Even a friendship can be established between a human being and an animal (not for nothing the dog is man’s best friend).
Friendly relationships can be born in the most diverse contexts and situations: the place where we live, the place where we work, the school, the university, parties, meetings, the coffee we frequent, through other friends, social networks, etc.
Friendships, however, have different degrees of rapport. From the friends with whom we feel more distant relationships, to those with whom the deal is so close that we consider them “best friends”, giving that friendship a degree of superiority over other friendships.
Friendship not only arises with those who have more affinities in terms of tastes and interests, or with those who have more similarity, but can appear among very different people.
In fact, sometimes that is a factor that strengthens friendship, because a good friendship complements and enriches the person, not only in the exchange of ideas, information and feelings, but also in the fact of sharing the good and bad moments of life.
Friendship and love
Love and friendship have in common the deep affection, respect, loyalty and sense of commitment. In fact, in friendship there is always love and in love, usually, friendship.
They differ in several things. For example, love intends to last forever, and, in fact, the marriage vow so establishes. On the other hand, friendship, not tied to more commitment than reciprocal affection, tends to be stronger than love.
One of the main issues in which love and friendship are differentiated lies in the mutual sexual attraction that love implies, although there are cases in which friendship is passed to love.
In addition, friends may have infinite reasons to be (sharing the same spaces – such as work or school – common interests, related passions, mutual admiration), while those who love each other may have absolutely nothing in common and, without However, strongly wish to be together.
True friendship has become a utopian theme in this globalized world, of relationships based on immediacy and superficiality, where we are increasingly unable to put our interests aside and really build a lasting and solid friendship bond.
When there is a true friendship, friends recognize each other as “best friends.” The best friends are those whose level of loyalty, attention, care and affection is higher than normal. It is the one that is counted for a lifetime and that is present at all times.
Friends entitled to rub or with benefits
The concept of friends with the right to rub, with benefits or simply with the right, is that used to designate the relationships that exist between two individuals (men and women and people of the same sex), where there is a level of involvement, rapport and understanding. intimacy superior to friendship.
In this sense, it becomes a relationship of a loving and sexual type, where people are friends and lovers, to avoid the social type commitments that the formalization of courtship would imply. In many cases, this type of friendships can happen to courtship and even to marriage.
International Friendship Day
International Friendship Day was designated, since 2011, on July 20 by the United Nations General Assembly to pay tribute to this kind of fundamental affection for humanity.
However, the proposal to establish a day to celebrate friendship originates in Paraguay in 1958, and is raised by the World Friendship Crusade.
However, the date varies depending on the country where we are. In some places, such as Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Dominican Republic and Venezuela, it is celebrated on February 14, together with Valentine’s Day.
In Peru, the first Saturday of July is celebrated, while in Colombia it is the third Saturday of September, and in Chile the first Friday of October. Bolivia, for its part, celebrates it on July 23, and Argentina, Brazil and Uruguay prefer to do so on July 20.
Celebrating the day of the friend on July 20 was a proposal of an Argentine who thus raised in commemoration of the arrival of man on the Moon in 1969, in order to highlight the importance that this fact had on humanity.