Friendship

Very interesting line from the book I just finished: "When you're young, you always think you'll meet all sorts of wonderful people, that drifting apart and losing friends is natural. You don't worry, at first, about the friends you leave behind. But as you get older, it gets harder to build friendships. Too many defenses, too little opportunity. You get busy. And by the time you realize that you've lost the dearest best friend you've ever had, years have gone by and you're mature enough to be embarrassed by your attitude and, frankly, by your arrogance."

I am kind of intrigued by several aspects of that passage. First of all, by the ... naivete and somehow also arrogance of youth. That idea that the world holds the promises of so much and there are all kinds of people out there to meet, just waiting on you. The quick tendency to disregard friendships and people... in favor of the next best thing. The fact of the matter is, friendships take lots of work and young people are often not willing to give them what it takes to make them flourish.

The other point is the way friendships become harder to both form and keep when you are older. I love the line "too many defenses, too little opportunity". Age clogs up things in so many ways, while it also clears things up in others. We become, I think, more hindered by past hurts and situations, in some ways more self-conscious, while we also start to see the things that really matter. As teens, the things that seemed so important (looks, popularity, athletic prowess) fade in favor of someone to laugh with and someone who understands you.

Just some random thoughts I have had. I love that passage from The Friday Night Knitting Club and wanted to think aloud (in print) about it. :)