Friendship is Deeper than an Open Mouth
Is communication needed for friendship? Do we need to know our friends thoughts, feelings and history to be friends?
The dictionary defines FRIEND as:
- a person attached to another by feelings of affection or personal regard
- a person who gives assistance; patron; supporter
- a person who is on good terms with another; a person who is not hostile
And FRIENDSHIP as
- the state of being a friend; association as friends: to value a person’s friendship
- a friendly relation or intimacy
- friendly feeling or disposition
I can imagine that two people incapable of speech can become friends, so verbal communication is not needed for friendship. Yet, in most cases of friendship verbal communication is very important – even if it takes the form of texting or email.
I notice in my experience, that I often meet people who feel friendly though they have yet to speak a word. It’s the way they move, their body language, appearance or vibe. Sometimes I meet someone and see something “below the surface” that makes me feel friendly toward them. This is spite of the fact that they may be shy or uncommunicative.
When considering what friendship is perhaps the significant point is that the language of friendship is not words, but meanings as Henry David Thoreau said.
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