I enjoyed presenting a talk today to a community of people.  I spoke on one of my favourite subjects—choosing friends wisely and carefully. I actually titled the talk “Relational Oxygen’.

Dr. Wilfred Funk, the dictionary publisher, was asked to list the 10 most expressive words in the English language. Here are four that jumped out at me:

The most revered word — mother

The most beautiful word — love

The most bitter word — alone

The warmest word — FRIENDSHIP

I love the story about the boy who called his dad when he was short on cash.

A young man sat down to write a letter to his dad, hoping to shake some cash out of him: “Dear Dad, I’m 100 miles from home, I’m flat broke and I have no friends, what should I do?” The dad wrote back: “Dear son, make some new friends.”

I think some of us need to make new friends. Better, we need to be good friends.

Here’s a great summary of what it means to be not just a good friend, but a great friend.

A true friend is someone who sees you at your worst but never forgets your best.

A true friend is someone who thinks you’re a little bit more wonderful than you really are.

A true friend is someone you can talk with for hours or be with in complete silence.

A true friend is as happy for your success as you are.

A true friend trusts you enough to say what he really means when talking to you.

A true friend doesn’t try to know more, act smarter, power up, or be your constant teacher.

So let’s all go out there and be a great friend.