Are friends important?

Are friends important?

When asked the question, 'Are friends important?' most people would reply that they are certainly very important, and they are important for four main reasons.  These are centred around comradeship, problem solving, forming one’s character, and enjoying life generally.

First of all, having friends, comradeship, is  important; loneliness is one of the worst things to experience.  Millions of people suffer from it, and some get very depressed because of it and their lives are ruined by it.

In addition to the sense of togetherness that having friends gives you, friends are also vital when life gets difficult.  A problem shared is a problem halved, as we say, and many problems are solved by just being able to talk about them with people who are on your side.

A person’s character, her personality, is constructed in part by the success of her interpersonal relationships.  Finding out that you are liked by other people is one of the most beneficial factors in the building of a healthy psychology, and the confidence you get from liking and being liked is a great help to the building of a person’s character.

Finally, enjoying your life, having a good time, all come more easily with friends to share your happiness.  For example, if you go to see a film at the cinema, the experience is always made more enjoyable by having someone to talk about the film afterwards.  Finding out you both enjoyed the film for the same reasons seems to enhance the pleasure you got from it.

As you can see, friends are important; because they are always there for you, by your side when life is hard, helping you in ways you probably don’t notice, and  in ways that you do, making your life more fulfilling and worthwhile.

Robert Fielding















Teachers' Notes

This piece of writing is to be used with Marian's outline diagram for the Opinion/Analysis Writing Assignment.  

Sts read the text and fill in the diagram from the words they have just been reading.  

After they have done this and checked it, they can perhaps do the same thing with ideas they have generated for the essay prompt.