Friendship:The anti-nightmares.

“You do not know how much they mean to me, my friends, And how, how rare and strange it is, to find. In a life composed so much, so much of odds and ends,
To find a friend who has these qualities, Who has, and gives.Those qualities upon which friendship lives. How much it means that I say this to you—Without these friendships—life, what cauchemar!” (19-28).

That's a piece I found in the reading, and a piece I read over and over again. Partly because it attracted my attention and partly because it was one of the little things I understood. It's a piece describing the importance of friendship, which is one of the most valuabe things someboody can have. Without friendship life would be much harder. Friendship is a very difficult word to define, yet everyone knows it's meaning because it's such and important part of life. Friendship is not something you learn in school, and the author is saying that it is hard to find a true friend, which is true in my opinion because you might think you have a true friend, but you won't ever prove it until you're in a difficult situation. While you're in a good situation a friend may be with you but when you go through a bad moment they may abandon you. I know this, I have seen it. It has been done to me and I have seen people do it to others, I must've have done it as well, but the author is saying that once you get friendship, then you can be happy. For the author, the most important quality of friendship is to have and to give. These qualities are important, especially the giving part. If you have kindness, honesty and trustworthiness then you can be a great friend, but you also need to give a part of you to the people who consider you your friend. Friendships need both people to put some effort in the relation, just as love does. The last sentence is "What a cauchemar!", but after asking a friend what cauchemar meant I found the meaning of the sentence. "Cauchemar" is the french word for "Nightmare". Therefore, for the author, life without friendship is a nightmare. I am in complete agreement with that. Love is some kind of friendship, as well as family. Therefore, if you had no friendship then it would mean you had no love and poor family relations if any at all. What other purpose in life is there than finding love and friendship? The purpose of life for me is to be happy, and yes, life would be a cauchemar if we had no friendship, because at least I would never be happy without it.