Friendship too has to be tested...~!

At the Jarir Mall Coffee Bean this morning - For Breakfast.
(Somebody took my photo, so I wasn't alone...hahaha~!)

The advance of social network has brought a new meaning to friendship. We now have such terms as FB friends, Blog-sphere friends and Cyber friends.

Let me take you back momentarily to those days when the word 'internet' was probably marked as a wrong spelling by teachers.

Then, friendship was limited to people we met at work, at places we studied, neighbours, and the more adventurous amongst us would have had pen-pal friends and friends in girls schools whose registration numbers match with ours. Gosh, going back this particular memory lane brought me to a particular girl in STF; pony tailed, oval faced, round eyed, Colgate-smile, and her MCE registration number was the same as mine! We exchanged letters, swapped exams questions and a few personal details, and of course I received that one photograph of hers for which I fell in love instantly. That deep impulsive love was what ended  our friendship! Who would blamed her! I asked her to marry me. Since we were both in form five and about to face the MCE exams, she concluded that I was mad and emotionally unstable. She might have been right, but it had left a life-long cut on me. Ever since, until I met my wife, I kept asking every girl who smiled at me to marry me.
But, I digressed.

The point I wanted to make was, in the old days, we got to know the person first then only friendship blossomed.

In other words, we would have gone through the 'Chemistry test', the 'Trust-worthiness test', the 'Argument-and-make up test' before seeds of friendship were sown. These friends, proven over time, they have the tolerance and endurance. Little hiccups didn't bother them. Big differences brought them closer together, and huge arguments resulted in tearful sessions of forgiving and seeking for forgiveness.

Now back to the present, and to the days when we embrace friendship through interactions in the cyber world. Where pictures, words, and self-created persona are the media for others to know, judge and decide whether too befriend or not. Many friendship start hastily, and end equally abruptly. The are no time for any level of 'Chemistry test', no real opportunities for 'Storming and Norming', as any good management book would recommend as a necessary step in starting a relationship!

Little wonder, therefore, many of friendships which endure over time are friends we have met and made through the 'Real world'!

Unfortunately, even 'Cyber initiated friendship' involved 'Real persons and real feelings' which therefore in my view deserved  real respect. This was the only point which prompted me to think about writing this piece while having breakfast at the Coffee Bean this morning~!
Thank you for bearing with me while I digressed.