We Should Value the Friendship

The older I get, the more I value friends, yet the less time, energy and enthusiasm I have in maintaining old friendships and striking up the new ones.
At what point does a person you know become a friend? And, to take a step back, what is “friendship” anyway? Indeed, what makes you click one person and form a friendship with   him but not some other?
If a friend is someone I feel completely comfortable calling up at 3a.m. to get me out  of trouble, then I don’t have many friends.
Other then family members, I can count on just one female friend and three, at best     four, male friends. But then, maybe that’s plenty. As someone said, one friend in a        lifetime is much, two are many, three are hardly possible. Friendships are different from   relationship—and thank goodness for that.
Friendship is simple and fills you, mostly, with positive emotions—kindliness, fondness, and warmth.
With a lover, you make demands and have expectations. But with a friend, you’re cool. You don’t really owe him anything, or have to explain much, because you demand nothing more from each other then pleasant company and an occasional listening ear.
Love, I read somewhere, is blind, but friendship close its eyes. How true! What is it that allows you to become friends with some people, and not others? Shared experience is    one requirement, and the more clearly defined it is, the better.
The older I get, the more I value friends. Yet I find that it is not only harder for me to maintain old friendships; but also to form new ones. You may say: if you value friend -  ship so much, why don’t you just go forth and make more friends? It is easier said than    done. People of my age and older are busy with careers and families. And I have fewer       things in common with those younger.
But the fault is mine. At my age, I lack the energy and enthusiasm. Staring and maintaining a friendship might be for less difficult than a relationship, but is still requires effort. Do I have strength for that on top of the other demands in my life?
One British writer once said: “I have lost friends, some by death—others by sheer inability to cross the street.”
Should I see my few remaining friends on the street next time, I’ll gather the energy to   walk up to them and say “Hi”. For really, that is all it takes to keep a friendship alive.