Be a True Friend

To be a good friend you need to like yourself and act in a friendly way towards others. You need to: greet others, use good manners, tell the truth, listen well, meet the needs of yourself and others, and show respect and love in your actions with others. By doing these, you increase your chances of becoming a good friend.
One thing that limits a friendship is the amount of time you have to share with others. Everyone has stuff to do at home, at school or even at work that limit how much time can be spend with friends. Time limits allow only a small number of people to become good friends with you.

Another limitation on friendship is your interests. Most friendships center on common interests. Most friends share at least one interest and do things together they enjoy. This interest is often what originally created the friendship.
A lack of common interests can be why some people don’t become friends. Even though they are friendly towards one another, if you don’t have something in common, you may just end up going your separate ways. This can sometimes lead to feelings of disappointment or frustration.

Everyone has the right to choose who his or her friends will be. This also limits the number of friends you may have. Friendship is something that a person has to freely choose. It’s a choice that is sometimes difficult to make. You need to respect each person’s right to choose his/her own friends. You need to respect this acceptance or rejection by others. Yet everyone is capable of being a good friend.

It is important to see the difference between being a friend and acting friendly. You can act friendly with everyone. You can greet others, be helpful, and generally show respect and kindness. These are very helpful in getting along well with others. In return, other people with usually show respect and kindness back to you. But, being a friend involves much more than just friendly actions. It takes time and effort to do things with other people on a regular basis. You need to listen well. This means trying to understand what is being said as well as how the person is feeling. You need to be honest. You need to show respect. You need to meet the needs of others. You need to spend time, share things about yourself and allow the other person to share things with you.

To have a friend, you must be a friend first.



Name 3 things that limit a friendship.