What is Friendship to You?

Below is a recently published Value Minute® feature that I'd like to explore:

Friendship
In The Four Loves, C.S. Lewis viewed Friendship as an often ignored form of love for the modern world. A friendship is different from an acquaintance. Friends stand side-by-side in common interests. Friendship is the least jealous form of love. It has roots in the need of companions for the hunt, for the care of the family and for conflict. Friends are bound together by shared experiences. In friendship, we choose our peers. He notes that friendship is unnecessary, has no survival value but, “is one of those things which gives value to survival.”
Do you have friends as defined by Lewis? If so, what impact do they have on you?

I do have friends that fit the definition that Lewis offers. And I agree completely with the way in which he defines friendship. I would say that I have many, many acquaintances with whom I enjoy spending time on occasion but whose company I do not seek out. These are people I interact with at my children's sports or extracurricular activities, at social gatherings, and at other locales. The interaction with these acquaintances is driven by shared experiences or common interest but it often doesn't go deeper than that coincidental intersection of our lives. Once our children, for example, are no longer playing on the same team we don't find ourselves continuing many of those relationships. They are not something that "grew roots", they were purely connections that occurred by chance. Our kids played on the same team. We shared that experience. Rooted for the same team. Cheered wins. Lamented losses. Talked about whatever came up and that was of common interest but it didn't really get beyond that one common connection, it didn't grow beneath the surface, if you will. That's not to say that these acquaintances, these experiences aren't nice or beneficial or enjoyable, they just aren't real friendships. They are passing, temporary, fleeting. Friendship is not. It remains. Even when you don't communicate with that friend for days, weeks maybe even years. It's something that you could fall right back into with no effort. I have friends from college who I haven't seen nor talked to in quite a while yet I still consider them friends. I still am very interested in what's going on with them, I am hopeful that their lives are going well that they are happy. I think about them, maybe not all the time but from time to time. Friendship is a form of love and if you truly have it then it doesn't ever die, like love. It may change, it may transform, it may look and feel different than it once did but, like love, it never goes away. That's what I believe anyway.

The friends I have today that I do get to see and spend time with and enjoy are great assets to my life. They challenge me to be forgiving sometimes when my tendency is to not do so. They make me laugh. They make me cry. They allow me to care a little more deeply or cause me to care more extensively. If you have a true friend you find yourself caring about what he/she cares about. They listen. They tell you the truth even when it's hard to do so. But they also do their best to protect you from hurt. They are there for you - if not physically then emotionally. You can count on them. There are no walls in real friendship - your friends take you as you are and you them. They want to help, they want to be a part of your life. It is not about obligation or expectation - it just is. To me it seems impossible to have a real friend and not love him/her. If love is forever, and I believe it is, then so is friendship. It does, indeed, give value to survival.