Classification of Friends
On a conscious level, we rarely spend much time actually thinking about and classifying our friends. However, since I was a small child, my mother taught me to recognize and appreciate various types of friends. I have discovered that there are three different types of friends. I group them according to how well I know them and how well they know me. We encounter each type of friend everyday, whether in school, home, or at the gym. First, there are the "pest friends"- general acquaintances. Next, there are "guest friends"- social partners. Lastly, we have "best friends"- our true friends.
The first type of friend is simply an acquaintance. This means that you basically only know their name. You might not even remember what they look like if you go away for a short vacation. Usually, you meet these type of friends in school, at work, on the bus, in the gym, or anywhere else you might be. You normally would not mind having a cup of coffee with them, but if anything else came up, you usually would have no problem parting company.
You normally don’t miss them when they are elsewhere. It is also this type of friends who give you the most amount of aggravation. Since most of the time you are placed in a position where you have to act friendly, such as school or work, you would not normally tell an acquaintance when he or she is doing something aggravating, such as tapping the fingers an a table or chewing gum loudly. This is why I call them "pest friends."
The second category of friends I call "social partners." This is because they are closer than acquaintances, but no where near as close as a true friend. Social partners are usually acquaintances who evolve into "guest friends" through increased extracurricular activities. You know their name, a little of what they like or dislike, a little of their family history, and usually have several things in common. As the saying
goes, "Birds of a feather flock together," so too the social partners have to have several things in common with you. No one is going to want to spend any more time than necessary with somebody completely opposite and aggravating to him. Keep in mind, though, that the biggest thing that distinguishes a "best friend" from a "guest friend" is the fact that "guess friends" usually don’t converse about anything substantial or deep, such as their innermost desires and fears.