The Legacy of Friendship

In a recent NY Times op-ed column, David Brooks wrote that “William F. Buckley Jr.’s greatest talent was friendship. He showered affection on his friends, and he had an endless stream of them, old and young. ” This led me once more to consider the matters of friendships. Although there has been much discussion about people in the United States having fewer close friends than in years past, we also are told the value of friendship and its importance to our well-being. As a result of so many strained families, friends have become surrogate family and the primary source of support and affection. “Faithful friends are a sturdy shelter: whoever finds one has found a treasure” ( Sirach 6:14) To be a friend and to have a friend supports the understanding that we are social and relational, not solitary and autonomous. There is a special kind of grace expressed in friendship for a friend is someone who makes us feel more like our true selves, one who recognizes the person we were meant to be. Buckley seemed to understand that this is the way we are called into fullness of life. I am coming to realize that I haven’t spent enough time and energy in recent years nurturing such relationships.