The Facts of Life: Beartato on Friendship

Friends are the best - everyone LOVES having friends, right?

Until you have too many. Then you have to get rid of the excess friends.

A lot of people I've spoken with recently (the single ones, at any rate) have expressed a lack of interest in making new friends. All of their socializing at this point is geared either towards strengthening the friendships they already have or finding a new relationship with the special someone that will let butterflies loose in their bowels (an idea that sounds, frankly, quite uncomfortable).

The unfortunate side effect of refocusing friendship energies to more romantic goals, though, is that personal growth tends to stagnate. Best friends are best friends for a reason, of course - with certain individuals we just seem to "click" to the point where we are no longer growing seperately but as a unit. The rest of those friendships, though - and here I mean the "shallow" friendships that come into our lives for a brief moment, then pass on as our paths diverge - also seem to be helpful.

Continuing with the (admittedly shaky) water metaphor, such sudden bursts of friendship help to wear off a couple of the rough edges that we maybe didn't know we had. Perhaps we suddenly realize that we've had something of a temper that our long-term friends have grown accustomed to. Perhaps we discover a new hobby. Whatever the result, the constant infusion of "new" keeps things light and interesting - even if the "new" comes in the form of brief, though meaningful, interpersonal relationships.

Would I LIKE to meet a special someone that will unleash fluttering insects in the pit of my stomach? Probably, but someone will have to come up with a better, less off-putting description of that sensation.

In the meantime, I'll take all the friends I can get. Which is probably two. Sorry, Kevin, but the position you've applied for is full right now.

(Anthony Clark writes Beartato comics, and the world is better for it. You can find more hilarious Beartato strips like the one above at nedroid.com)