We dont make friends; we recognize them

This is definitely true with me. I am sure it would be with most of them. I have no strategy to choose friends, Infact I don’t choose them. They happen!! I mean, I don’t make them my friends, I recognize a friend in them. I’ve always wondered what ticks between people? and especially with friends. Can anyone random be my friend? Other than the idea of global relationship and all the people in the world are friends, I don’t find any valid reason. Global thoughts apart, personally the word ‘friend’ to me has a real great meaning (don’t worry, I wont explain what it means, because I don’t know how to explain). According to me there is a clear distinction between ‘friends’ and ‘acquaintances’. Well I have been confused many times over the thin line of difference, I still am not clear how to differentiate; however I have grown up enough to recognize the difference I guess. In the past, there have been instances, to choose people as friends; a few took more time to recognize a friend in me and with a few more, I took time. I think, it is not the quantity of friends you have, it is the quality of relationship you share with your friends that is important. Over years, people grow, expectations grow, ideas change, people meet people, we always look for the face to recognize something similar… we become friends!

“We don’t make friends, we recognize them.”

Dr. Dorothy Rowe
In the book ‘Friends or Enemies’

The Multi-faced me (us)!

Yes! That’s true! I am multi-faced, so are, we all. Confused!? Well, I am confused myself when I think of this idea. I see myself different than as you see me. The idea of being different with different people! Can’t there be a standard ‘Guru’? I am just another normal being in this social world. I think I represent a majority of people. I know many who are like me, different at different times. Why is it always like this with me (us)?

I always observe people and their behaviour in groups and individually. Interestingly, they are not same, sometimes not even similar. They act, talk and behave different and what is more interesting is that all these changes constantly and takes the shape that fits into the environment around which they are at that time. They squeeze in to the form that just fits them into that milieu. The thought of mine is the reasoning behind it. To find answers for questions, Why do we do this? Why put on faces? Why can’t we be just one all the time?

Is it for money? Business reasons? Or ??? Isnt it cheating ourselves, be a chameleon and put faces. Surprisingly, many companies, especially internet ones cater for our needs for being multi-faced. There are always options to choose a ‘Public Profile’ and a ‘Personal Profile’ for one single person and many other websites allows creating more than one profile (Yahoo! for example allows you to create up to 5 profiles with one login).
Why do we need so many profiles, we are just ‘One’. One thought that struck me as I end this article is probably we all are trying to prove what great philosophers have always voiced
“Jeevana Ondhu Naataka ranGa, Naavella kevala PaThraDharigalu”
(Life is a drama and we all are actors), but just literally!!!

PS: I have found some interesting pictures that could be related to the above idea, the multiple faces we have, how people perceive each other and how we squeeze into the environment taking different shapes and sizes.