New definition for "Friend"?

Do we need a new definition for "friend"?



With the advent of the Internet, cell phones, texting and mobile access to everyone and anyone do we need to redefine the meaning of "friend"? I've thought about this just little over the last couple of years. It was brought up again in my mind today based on a Facebook posting and a subsequent question from someone I've known for a while.



We seem to want to redefine things a lot lately. Marriage, family, parents, conception, healthcare, right, wrong, work hours, ethics to name a few. I'm not sure everything needs to be redefined. Sometimes we need new words with new meanings to describe the new things we see. I read that there are 540,000 words in the English language. That is 5 times more than when Shakespeare was alive. This is both amazing and what we'd expect. I doubt Will had much use for the word computer or terabyte. Then again, some days I'm not sure I do!

I don't think we need a new definition...we have and will continue to have personal definition of "Friend" like we always have. I suspect we resist, at least internally, the imposition of definitions we don't hold true to ourselves. That is if you have that internal compass that tells you right from wrong, when to stand true and not "go along with the crowd".

If you don't then you won't stand for something and you'll then fall for anything, my friend!