Friendship in our society is strictly a private affair. There are no social rituals, no public ceremonies to honor or celebrate friendships of any kind, from the closest to the most distant. No clear lines mark the beginnings of a friendship; often none mark the ending either.
Friendship is a non-event... a relationship that just becomes, that grows, develops, waxes, wanes and, too often ends, all without ceremony or ritual to give evidence of its existence.
During adolescence, best friendships usually come and go rapidly, although not easily and not without pain. When a teen calls someone a best friend, the relationship may be short-lived, but while it exists, it's almost certain that there's a deep emotional connection between the friends, that they see each other often, relate intensely, and share intimately. Teens make best friends and lose them for the same variety of reasons that all friendships are made and broken... time, distance, unresolved conflicts, changes in one or both friends that make the friendship untenable.
In friendship, if a relationship is to grow beyond the initial attraction, there must also be some sharing of values, of an aesthetic sensibility, of intellect, of interest and perhaps most important of all, some way in which the friend reaches a part of self not accessible to most others. Best friends have the power to help and to hurt in ways that no one but a mate or lover can match.
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