The Best Friend

Today, I heard a very interesting definition of what a “best friend” is. And that definition came from Aristotle.

For Aristotle, a great friend isn’t just someone who supports you and helps you when you need them. It isn’t someone who’s there for you when you’re alone, or when you need someone to help you overcome a difficulty in life.

A great friend is someone who sees in us someone who can always rise above themselves. A friend is someone who wants us to flourish, to become better people every day, so that we can always give our best...

A great friend won’t always take your side in a confrontation. Because they know you so well and understand your true potential, they won’t let a situation—where you think you’re right and refuse to accept that you might be wrong—make them agree with you just because they don’t want to contradict you.

A true friend isn’t afraid to disagree with you, to help you see your true potential.

They don’t want to humiliate you by doing so. Quite the opposite. They want you to bring out the best in yourself—and they know it’s there, which is why they always believe in you.

A true friend can help us simply by being there. They don’t need to speak or express the pain they feel at seeing you sad. A simple hug or a tender look is enough.

For a true friend, while a sincere apology is appreciated, they know that even if that apology doesn’t come immediately after the mistake, you’ve already shown through your actions that you care—more than the apology itself—or that you’ve offered something in return.

A friend is also someone who, even though they aren’t physically close, you know that the moment after you call them—even if they can’t answer right away—they’ll come to you or listen to you as soon as they possibly can.

To be the best friend is to love… to give everything to the other person, and not to expect it to be reciprocated in equal measure, because you already know that, at some point, you will repay them seventy times over what they have just given you.

If a great friend is someone who has time—time to be there, time to listen, time to talk.

Time—that will always be the greatest and most precious of our possessions.

Make the most of it, so you can discover the true gems you have in this world, which God has placed in your path. Not as a destination, but as a discovery—one that will last a lifetime.

^{Image by martaposemuckel from Pixabay
Original text written by @xrayman in Portuguese and translated with DeepL.com (free version)}