Why Do People Think They Have Friends?

I don't believe in the typical concept that people believe about "Friends". When I was about 16 years old I realized that it was a farce, now I'm much older and still believe the same.

My dad also used to warn me as a kid/teenager, that I might not have as many "Friends" as I believed.

Even a teacher at my school, an old and wise man said to us "You guys think you'll be hanging around your friends forever, but after high school people go different paths in life, and usually stop speaking to each other"

When he said this I was 17 years old, and about to graduate from High School. By this time I had already figured out that the concept of "friends" was not what it was cracked up to be, and that I woudnt be hanging around my so called "Friends" for my whole life. So when he said this, I was thinking "Duh, I already knew that".

For those of you who think you have friends, imagine if this friend was put in a life or death situation, or a potentially life destroying situation, and they absolutely had no other option but to choose between being loyal to you, or save their own butt. 9/10 they are going to save themselves and leave you behind. They are only your friend because they have not been put under real pressure.

These people are acquaintances, not friends. Someone can be your so called friend and then stop talking to you because of some misunderstanding between you two, or because you said something or had an opinion that they didn't like. Or because they mistakenly believed something about you that wasnt true.

Or because they had an emotional feeling about something you said or did, that you have no damned idea of. It can literally be anything at all.

Now don't get me wrong. I do have a few associates in my life who I consider to be "brothers", but thats only because we are all of the same faith. And therefore are like minded in many ways, and in order to fulfill the requirements mandated by the faith, we are obligated to love one another as ourselves. But this doesn't necessarily mean that we will remain in contact for the rest of our lives.

Family relationships are a little more real because at least there is something connecting you besides your whims. If someone is your biological brother, it doesnt matter how you necessarily feel about one another at any given point in time, you may simply respect the blood relationship that you have with them. You also have other relatives in common. With "Friends" the only connection is your whims. You can literally abandon one another at any moment and nothing will happen. It's not like you'll see them at a family reunion or anything.