Advice & A Warning

Chris (Ce) Dong

Friends play important roles in our lives. A proverb says 'One man is not good enough to live alone in the world.' Indeed, there are many things in life which we can't perform alone. We need friends’ help. It's great to have a memorable and eternal friendship but it's difficult to make a real friend. So we should learn more about how to find new friends and how to nurture and maintain our friendships.

Of course, we can make friends everywhere at anytime. For example, we can go to speed dating, join a reading group or even find friends though the Internet. However, I think the best place is school, where we are among a big number of boys and girls our own age, so it is easy to get to know each other in a short time. Besides, we can also make friends among the people who work with us in the community.

In order to make real good friends, the most important thing I think is that we should have common ambitions as well as the same interests and hobbies because it's hard to stay with a person who always disagrees with your ideas. In addition, we must be honest, noble-minded and kind-hearted in order to leave a favorable impression with others. And we mustn't lie to our friends. For me, when I was a child, I didn't understand what a real friendship meant. One of my best friends asked me the date to go back to school when we were on holiday. I told him the wrong date so he didn't go to school on time. Then the teacher asked his parents to come to the school. He was so angry and broke up with me. I hoped to say sorry to him but it was too late. I still regret that.

At the same time, we should avoid bad friends. A proverb says ‘A friend in need is a friend indeed.' Friends are people who willingly and readily help us when we are in trouble, and show sympathies for us when we are in misery. However, bad friends always do harm to us and they are dangerous to the people around us. What is even worse, they mar our friendships with good friends. So we should make friends wisely.