Friendship

This is a topic I have been curious about since I was five years old constantly being left by the swing set alone. What is a friend? It sounds like such an adolescent question but really, it's not. It's something that we question with everyone we meet. If we compartmentalize friends, there are the following categories: long distance friends who are in other states, countries, regions, etc that you "keep in touch with" from time to time. Are they friends or are they people you know and enjoy saying hi to? Then there are the historical friends that you've known since you were young, like twenty years or so, or sometimes even longer. So are they friends or are the only things that bind you together is the amount of time you've known about each other and their existence? Then there are the new friends. How long should you know them before you call them a friend? Then you have the pain in the ass friends that you would rather not hear from but keep them around because you feel bad! Oh and here is a great one. Friends with benefits! Ho ho, let me tell you that is something that is nothing but a curse. The devil himself made it up baby, because nothing good can come out of that. AND....that is not friendship. That is, let me use you for sex and then when I find someone better we can't do it anymore. It's such bullshit. And it's sad the amount of broken hearts that never heal because of it. So with all this bullshit, who are your friends really! I'm not suggesting there is no such thing, I just think there is more that goes into friendship, even more than a romantic relationship! It should be better!