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One Sentence Friends -- Writer's Poke #214

"Friend" is one of those words that people use rather liberally. How many friends do you actually have?

On Facebook, for example, I currently have over 150 friends; most of the people on the list mean something to me, but I'm not sure "friend" is the correct term. Perhaps "connection" would be more accurate, although that doesn't feel entirely right either.

In Sex, Drugs, and Cocoa Puffs, author Chuck Klosterman notes that we barely know most people we call "friends." Most people, he claims, we could sum up in a sentence. That's a scary thought, and one worth seriously pondering.

How many people do you know that you couldn't "summarize in a sentence"? What makes these people different from "one sentence friends"?

"Each friend represents a world in us, a world possibly not born until they arrive." -- Anais Nin

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  1. UnknownMarch 19, 2009 at 11:07 PM

    I have had several acquaintances in my life. I have had few friends. Maybe two or three in elementary school deserved that title at least for a time. Probably two or three in high school also did, but there was little overlapping of the two sets. In the Air Force maybe I would name three or four who deserved that title, for a time. But we all moved apart eventually. Now I have probably three or four that I call friends, but probably if any of us move to a different location they will be former friends.

    A friend is closer than a brother. I have never had a brother.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMay 4, 2009 at 1:12 PM

    I wonder how you would summarize me in one sentence..... I know: She's perfect!

    ReplyDelete
  3. Bret R. FullerMay 4, 2009 at 1:15 PM

    How about: "She's kind of attractive and not too annoying."

    ReplyDelete

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