After a little discussion with Cyril, my step-brother-slash-old-friend, made me think twice about the value of old friends versus new ones. Being someone forced to compare the “American” way versus “old Europe’s” in virtually every domain, the notion of friendship and how each culture makes/keeps friends has always been somewhat of a “free punch” to the superficial Americans. In essence, Americans supposedly make friends quickly but don’t really intend to deepen into a “lasting friend.” On the other hand, the Europeans are known for being “cold” at the outset, but treasuring long-term deep friends. In the end, both styles have positives and negatives but, because of the different cultural perspectives, each style becomes offensive or confusing for the other culture.

Then, there is curious notion: have you ever felt that longer term friends are actually less likely to come to your help as the baggage creeps up on the partnership. New friends, in contrast, sometimes are more “adapted” in that they reflect the more recent history and are also less bridled with “history” (read: unpaid debts, repetitive nature of the demands…). Certainly, I love my old friends with whom I choose to stay in touch with great affection. But, I always believe there is room for good new friends.

Anyway, thought the topic was worth a quick spin.

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