What makes a friend?

First off, in order to define what makes a good friend, we must first look at what defines friendship. Friendship is, of course, subjective, and therefore hard to explain. What defines a friend for one person may not be true for another. It doesn't help that frienship is an abstract, human concept, built to service a broad range of human social relationships. What makes a friend even differs from culture to culture, from past to present. For example, Aristotle once wrote, " To the query; ''What is a friend?'' his reply was ''A single soul dwelling in two bodies." " Nowadays, people "friend" other people on social media, like their bosses or teaches. Not because they feel as if they are "a single soul dwelling in two bodies", but because they feel obligated. But that is a discussion for another time.

Back to the question, what makes a good friend? Many poeple try to rate freinds based on certain attributes, like loyalty, or similarity to oneself. But, as I said, friendship is subjective, and so the answer to the question must be similarly flexible. And since friendship is mutual, it needs to go both ways. What is the common denominator? What is a friend?

It's someone you trust. Friendship is built upon trust. You're not friends with someone you don't trust. And it is no coincidence that people who trust more easily have a better time at making friends. Friends are the people you trust, and who trust you back. Love and affection cannot thrive without the nuturing care of trust. And so, friendship, to me, means trust.