Whoever said "Show me your friend and I will show you your character" has been quite correct. I had never given a second thought to such sayings especially ones on friendship. But now I realize that I had underestimated the truth conveyed by the above saying.

While brooding over my thoughts on friendship, this was what I came up with. In whomever I call a friend, I recognize a part of myself. A friend is more like an extension of oneself. There are similarities one recognizes in them and these similarities need not necessarily be the good qualities. Even those qualities one detests in other people, one finds those residing within oneself. Amongst some of my so-called friends, there are some whose beliefs on certain issues I totally diasgree with. But in my urgency to avoid verbal conflicts, I remain non-commital when such issues are brought into open and discussed. Recently, I had a major disagreement with a friend. The source of the discord seemed so trivial to me that my "say-no-to-fights" attitude took over and I asked my friend as to why we should even promote such an argument. Unfortunately, the other person involved in this whole affair didn't seem to share the same mental attitude and it became more of a prestige issue to her. The end, as anyone can predict, was not that great and she had just lost out on a potential good friendship.

While on a phone conversation with another old friend, I was told that I had changed a lot over time. To this person, my attitudes and beliefs had changed and he doesn't find me as the same old sort now. On rethinking, it is actually true.
"Life in its own journey presupposes its own change and movement. And one tries to arrest them at one's own eternal peril. Times change and we too change with them."
That aptly summarizes my thoughts on the statement made by my friend.

With all the change around and within, maybe it is not a bad idea to revamp the friends list too. As for the anxiety of losing out the best friends during such shuffles, some wise soul said "Best friends are those that manage the transition between address books".

My address book is undergoing construction and I can see a good many deletions, new additions and some crazy retentions ;-)