Shallow Relationships

As people age, it seems that the friendships they establish become increasingly shallow. And this comes at a time when they self-profess to feel that friendships are important. When I was in high school, friendships had a way of lingering. Friends from that time period seldom forgot me, and would keep in touch. As I progressed through life, I found the kids at college could possibly click when working together on school stuff. It almost seemed like we had a good thing going. And then, shortly after the project was completed, they would communicate only as a courtesy and go no further. It is a strange thing. Extrapolate that to the reports I'm getting from friends fully in the work force, and it seems quite apparent that the quality of friendships are steadily going downhill.

It seems like hypocrisy, especially since there's always talk about how friendships are more important later in life, and that colleagues should be made friends and all that. From empirical evidence, I think it looks far more like it's important to stick to the friends you already have, and try your best to build the best possible friendships with the few who are still open to the idea. It gets trickier from here, since those acting really friendly may still be inclined to desert at the slightest sign of trouble. My friend is plagued by such problematic characters. Truly, with friends like these, who needs enemies? Oh wait...they do double duty.

While this may sound all bleak and defeatist, it does seem to be quite the case. Maybe with time I'll learn otherwise and I'll be glad that things are better than they seemed. What I do know for sure is that the people are getting increasingly guarded. I do not understand why it is so hard for people to open their hearts and be truly honest as far as they can. It's a good bit of catharsis, and I do not think being willing to open up is a sign of weakness. Of course, thank goodness I still have someone out there (along with a solid circle of some ones), and perhaps that will be enough to hold the fort.