What makes a good friend?

This morning, Jehovah's witnesses came over to the house to have a chat, half the time it's attempting to convert me and my family to Christianity even though we are Muslim, but they are friendly to talk to. But this morning, I overheard them speaking and the first thing she asked my mum was;

"What makes a good friend?"

This really got me thinking for a minute because that is actually a valid question. At first I thought she would approach the area of being shy and what signs to look out, but she actually spoke about the negative aspects of social networks such as Facebook and Twitter in speaking with other people from all over the place. Even though the conversation was for only a moment, it really got me thinking about the younger generation and the future generations. It even got me thinking about my generation since people find it easier to communicate through tablets and phones rather than speaking face to face.

Now I'm not gonna rant about how technology has been a terrible burden on society, we, as a society have definitely benefited greatly from the wonders of technology. But when looking at all the different social networks that we can easily access and to be able to speak to someone who is on the other side of the world, it seems understandable how people have become distanced and to some extent, forget what really makes a good friend.

My interpretation of a friend is someone who always sticks by you, through thick and thin and someone whom you can share your troubles with. A friend is someone who knows you like the back of their hand and won't abandon you over something as trivial as a new handbag, for example (no idea why handbag came in mind). With sites such as Facebook, for example, it feels like it's a competition to see how many friends you have on your friends list, to go into the 1000s regions. And this includes people who you didn't even speak to in school or they were just a jerk... (why add them when they never spoke to you?) It seems that essence of true friends is lost through pointless things like this.

However, it isn't always the case that people you meet through the internet can't turn out to be a very close friend. Lets not forget about pen pals, now advanced through new websites, where your passion or hobby is equally shared by someone else.
 There will always be the situation where you gotta be careful about those 'particular people' who seem a bit too friendly and who have no idea what their name is, age or where they come from. That is a sign to run away whilst you still have a chance! But on a serious note, a great example of a close friendship through the internet can be seen through my older sister and her friend from Portugal. They haven't had the chance to meet yet, but they are extremely close! They may as well have been known each other from Primary school! They met through an a social website where art and hobbies can be shared, and they haven't stopped talking since. That just proves that a good friend can be found through the internet as well as in person.
 
I get the impression that perhaps the older generation are under the influence that the younger generation no longer understand how to communicate with each other, to speak the simple greeting of 'hello' and to some extent, it's true. You have moments where people are literally next to each other and they'll be texting each other instead of lifting their heads up and saying 'Hey there'. With social outings, they'll be spending the whole time tweeting about what an awesome time they are having with their friends whilst their head is glued to their phones. Do we know how to even interact any more? (We'll all be talking robots soon).

The question of 'What makes a good friend?' have many aspects to it. But I feel that the crucial aspects are that a good friend is;
-Someone who will always be there for you
-Never ignore or abandon you
-Value your opinions and not reject them
-Treat you with respect
-Understands the type of person you are

I was getting worried that I was starting to list the perfect man for ladies... (Lets not get into that now) But friendship can be a very tricky situation, even though it shouldn't be. There is the situation of friends being together all the way through school but when they depart for university or employment etc...there is loss of communication and then the tight knit feeling soon begins to fade. But that is definitely not the situation for everyone, some make it their mission to make sure that they always keep in contact no matter what! Also, it took take as little time as a month to make a new friend in a new environment.
   That was definitely the situation for me in University. Making a fresh start, there are so many great people in my course who share similar passions as I do, but when I began to meet more people and beginning to know them more, you begin to establish a connection of who is close to you and who is a friendly acquaintance. But so far, it has been good and I know who my friends are.

But if you meet people who are extremely friendly and seem like the best thing ever, then they suddenly leave without a word or they begin to become individuals which make you feel nervous or intimidate you, then you know that they aren't your friends.

If anyone has any other views towards the question of what makes a good friend, then feel free to share your views and comments.