The one and only time I heard this was long ago from an old friend. In our lifetime she had said, there are some people who will stay with you only during good times but will not be around during hard times. However, there will be those very special friends who (according to her) are not only “good-weather friends” but “all-weather friends” too. Back then, I have never really had the chance to find the context behind when she said that, as I just merely wanted to play passive listener because I was sure she just wanted to let off steam then. Never willing to pry, I had let it go at that.
Through the next years, what she said had always been nagging in the back of my mind and I often thought unlike her, I hope I will never have to come to a point where I would begin to categorize people that way, as good weather or bad weather friends. For me, everyone has their reasons for all their actions and to categorize them as being either ‘good or bad’ whenever some unfortunate things happen, might just be based on my own perspective. If that were the case, labeling them as such would be unfair to them. However, I admit there will always be those who will choose to refuse you when times arise. I also submit, the cause of all that it must be because they have their own problems to tackle too. So there.
Meanwhile, it still never ceases to amaze me when I see on social media a thousand-strong number of friends in some accounts. If my friend’s theory of good and bad were to apply in these large number of people, how many do we think would qualify as the good guys? That will not matter for me because I am sure only a few would qualify under the heading of close friends. In the end, it would not also matter how large their number would be, as the more important thing really, is only the quality of a few.
Some even think the huge number of friends is there solely for the probable amount of “likes” and not really intended for real social relationship. Accept this or not, many still find dopamine unacceptable as its probable cause.
Back to the subject of weather people, it is just natural that because of the many stages we all have to go through in our lives, there will always be new sets of friends and acquaintances along the way. Even then, it’s quite admirable that starting from our earlier years of grade school, some friends still manage to tag along with us in our life journey. This of course, isn’t true with others because for them, especially whose work involve a lot of transfers and travel, people normally just fade by the road side. Not to say this is bad, it’s just the way it is. Then, add that as one gets older and memories begin to fade, these people’s transition from being friends to acquaintances to just mere faces would have already been complete. Such is life, not good or bad, but just ‘all weather’, if one really looks at it.
