Original Text: https://mp.weixin.qq.com/s/2Tl40EvW-N1APM0KZrqU6Q
Original Author: Chen Sai, the leader writer of Lifeweek
What is friendship?
What is friendship? And how does it happen and fade? What do we yearn for towards friendship? What’s the meaning to own the true friendship? Philosophers say, the key to live a good life is the friendship. But what’s the good life like? What kind of role does the friendship play? When you are a kid, getting the friendship can be very easy. In the amusement park, just ask someone “Do you want to be my friend?” and then you get it.
At that time, we were lack of interpersonal skill and there was no any accurate language and rite when socializing. But we followed our heart: it was easier for us to forgive, forget and release something, and we never hid our sadness, confusion and foolishness. Possibly it certainly makes the friendship in childhood easier to get and more pure and realistic than in adulthood. And there will be a happy ending forever—After gathering and separation for many times, it’s truly hard to say goodbye in reality.
In this regard, Friends is more like the friendship of kids. Six young people who are lovely and have different characters spend time together in a beautiful café. Without suffering pains and difficulties of life(excepting Phoebe), they have to face with those problems—unsatisfied job, unreliable parents, poor willpower and various daily worries and anxiety, which commonly happen in that stage of life.
However, thanks to the presence of each other, everything in our life seems to be more interesting and all worries can be tolerated, as if all setbacks won’t make us feel hopeless. Rachel’s Princess Syndrome becomes adorable in the tolerance of Monica, Ross’s neuroticism can be tolerated by naive Joey, Phoebe’s calmness is quite precious in Chandler’s insecurity, and the stubborn personality of Monica becomes funny in Phoebe’s grotesquery.
Actually, Friends has discussed some complex dimensions of friendship, such as money, jealousy and betrayal. Although it doesn’t come into in-depth exploration, with those intertwined dimensions, their friendship can be recognized as a real existence. They can tease each other, fight, lie, refuse, get disappointed and even break up, but they will be reconciled as the beginning. Differences in personality, interest and even class seem to make them closer.
In one episode, for celebrating Rachel’s promotion, they went out for a big dinner. When paying the bill, the contradiction came out between the rich and the poor, which got dispelled by the unemployment of Rachel. Joey bought Rachel a cup of coffee with 4 dollars from Chandler’s pocket.
Sometimes, there is no any explanation about our life which drifts with the wind. Some friendships may won’t happen if in another moment or place. And their friendship seems to be destined—It happens in the right time, at right place, to right people.