Imperfect

magnitudes of friendship

Inspired by Vlad's inflation of friendship.

I can see how exploring the magnitudes of human connections within a social network can be useful. The following connection types can mean different things to different people: family, best friends, friends, companions, classmates, colleagues, acquaintances, strangers, and everything in between. Everyone has their own unique set of relationship magnitudes and definitions of what each means to them.

Superficial friendships like colleagues and classmates can not only blossom into stronger friendships, but show up or reappear at informal gatherings or formative events. What examples have shown you this firsthand or through someone you know?

Scarce interactions from one-off friendships or encounters can leave a lasting impression. What conversations with a stranger left you clinging to that moment or their words to this day?

For those you communicate with on a daily or otherwise regular basis online, how can you work toward interacting with them in the real world? Based on your risk tolerance, you can work through this at different levels of proximity: locally, domestically, and even internationally.

I can see how true friendship based on complete and radical equality between people could be plausible. With that in mind, I wonder how my preferred distribution of infinite relationship aspects varies from yours or anyone else's. While people attract similars, the difficulty of a relationship is often in handling the differences. Have you considered appreciating the beauty found from tastefully navigating dynamically uneven connections?

In writing and editing the above, I found Toska's post, On Azerbaijan, to be a nice narrative complement. I hope her story not only resonates with you, but gets you tapping into the many magnitudes of friendship. It takes a village to raise a child and there are many beneficial roles to play in their upbringing.

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