<p>Yeah, really hard. Made a 4.0 no sweat last semester but a single great friend? Nope. I hate it.</p>
<p>e: I’ve started to differentiate between ‘acquaintance’ and ‘friend’ simply because I don’t want to cheapen the meaning of ‘friend.’</p>
<p>being alone and not having people to talk to in a super-casual manner would be boring for me. I’d hate to have to eat lunch and dinner by myself.</p>
<p>you get used to it</p>
<p>Nothing wrong with not having friends. The only ones who have an issue with it are the ones who need other people to validate their own existence.</p>
<p>aw. rio, you do get used to it. It’s hard to imagine getting used to it at first.</p>
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<p>I don’t have an issue with the friendless people, but I do have an issue with friendlessness. I think there is usually something wrong with it. Most people who don’t have friends would rather have friends. The thing is, a lot of the people w/o friends would never admit this, because that’s painful; that’s the last thing someone habituated to a life without enough friends wants to admit. </p>
<p>It’s like saying there’s nothing wrong with being homeless. Of course one can be content to a certain extent being homeless, get used to it, etc. just like one can with being friendless, but that doesn’t mean nothing’s wrong with it. I have an issue with this as well, and not with the homeless people, but with the homelessness. </p>
<p>I don’t think friendlessness and homelessness make people the most happy usually. They are not the best options for people. People will settle for them because not settling for them gets to be too exhausting, and say they are happy enough, etc., but still somehow I see it as sad. And I can’t help believe that it is sad.</p>
<p>^Wow. You really just compared friendless and homelessness. Apples and oranges friend. Apples and oranges.</p>
<p>friendlessness and homelessness are two things that people cope with, ways of life you could say, which society discourages.</p>
<p>I think if we say very assuredly that homelessness is wrong or not good, etc., then we’re kinda forced to say the same things about friendlessness in order to be consistent. </p>
<p>I think people hold on to their homes in about the same way that they hold on to their friends. Losing either is very devastating. </p>
<p>Or you can say that both homelessness and friendlessness are fine ways of life.</p>
<p>You can’t function in society properly if you are homeless, conversely, you can while being friendless. Therefore, they are not valid for comparison.</p>
<p>that’s a horrible analogy
the two are only vaguely connected, and hardly even in the way you described
people are forced into homelessness by other circumstances and hardly ever strive to be homeless
you’re making them sound like some kind of noble way of life</p>
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<p>And your point? People also cope with sickness, hunger, depression, and much more. </p>
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<p>Name one person who consciously chooses to be homeless. I’m talking about has a home, family, and everything else. But comes to a point in life and consciously decides to be homeless. Name a person, and I’ll agree with your statement wholeheartedly. </p>
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<p>You’ll be fine if you lose a friend. You’ll move on. Not so fine if you lose your home. Like I said, apples and oranges.</p>
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<p>No one chooses to be homeless though. Homelessness occurs out of unfortunate circumstances. No one wakes up one day and says “hmmm, I think this is the point in my life where I should start living out on the streets.”</p>
<p>You really sound foolish. Sit down, buddy. Just sit. Don’t embarrass yourself any further.</p>
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<p>okay, well I’m not meaning too. This is how I feel about them:</p>
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<p>you can function in society properly if you are homeless. Granted, maybe it is harder than if you are friendless. But I would still say a friendless person has a diminished ability to function in society properly, so they are alike in that way, even if they aren’t exactly the same.</p>
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<p>you miss understand my position i think. Anyway, it turns out a good deal of homeless people embrace the lifestyle and “choose” it. </p>
<p>Friendless people hardly ever strive to be friendless. And I think many people could be feel forced into friendlessness in the same way people feel forced into homelessness.</p>
<p>I don’t see how your pointing out a difference between them.</p>
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<p>It may be :p, but I haven’t been shown how it is.</p>
<p>what? who do you know who’s happy with not knowing where their next meal is coming from, not having anywhere to keep their things, and having to find somewhere to sleep in public every night? not being able to get a proper job because of no address? i don’t think you understand what properly functioning in society means.
do you have any experience with the homeless? all of them want to be in a better situation. unless the ones who i don’t know about who “embrace” the lifestyle don’t come to loaves and fishes in sacramento.
your analogy is ridiculous, am i being trolled?</p>
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<p>Some people do choose to be homeless - i.e they choose it over some other options. Kids run away from home, etc. And I could just as easily say no one chooses to be friendless. </p>
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<p>So does friendlessness. If people want friends but don’t have them, then it’s likely they don’t have them out of “unfortunate circumstances”. No one wakes up one day and decides not to have friends anymore either. You are actually pointing out how they are similar!</p>
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<p>lol why are you so against the comparison. All comparisons have faults, but the reason we use them is to get a bigger picture of what we’re dealing with, to see how things are related. obviously homelessness is not the same as friendlessness, I only claim that in certain domains they function similarly.</p>
<p>they’re just so dissimilar that it’s very very clear that there are much better analogies to make; it’s painful to think that you think that it’s good. i think that’s the only issue. i’m done here</p>
<p>^Thank you sooooo much Hella. I freaking love you for that post!</p>
<p>It’s fine to think being friendless is a “diminishing ability” or whatever, but comparing it to something so extreme is ridiculous. That’s like my professor getting in my face and then I go on to compare the professor getting in my face to being raped just because in both scenarios you’re being violated.</p>
<p>edit: I’m done with this thread. A bunch of dingbats in here. Plus, there’s no point in arguing with anyone. People who choose to be friendless, continue to do what makes you happy. People who are against friendlessness, continue to be against it. Both sides win, end of story. Peeeeeeeeeeeeeceeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee.</p>
<p>People have different ideas about friends. If there are frequent social interactions, mutually positive feelings and equal regard, I consider it a friendship assuming you see the person in real life and have no reason to suspect they’re being disingenuous. Join a club or do a sport and BOOM! --you have friends.</p>
<p>Some people are very open, tell their secrets to their “friends” at a slumber party and then get upset upon seeing the drama it generates. Can’t you see how someone might be turned off to having superficial “friends” for that reason?</p>
<p>As for confiding in someone, I have a mom, dad and siblings for that. I’m picky and would not trust some kid I met a month ago with my weaknesses, hopes and dreams. Also, being male, I don’t particularly care to discuss those things in depth. Some people don’t wear that stuff on their sleeve. Furthermore, family fills in the gap.</p>
<p>And if you’re making a comment about someone’s social prowess, self-worth or mental stability by taking note of how infrequently they go to parties or similar social events, I feel sorry for YOU. You’re the one who’s closed yourself off to a considerable portion of the world population.</p>
<p>The world is filled with introverts. We just don’t make the headlines. ;)</p>
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<p>Everyone wants to be in a better situation, that’s not exclusive to homeless people.</p>
<p>Look, of course being hungry is not fun. Neither is not having friends. Homeless people with friends have a source of happiness friendless don’t - friends - and friendless people have a source of happiness homeless people don’t - enough food.</p>
<p>as a homeless person you get used to it. Just like you get used to it being a friendless person. </p>
<p>You imagine it’s so horrible because you’re not homeless, just like how people with friends can’t imagine how horrible having no friends would be.</p>
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<p>Friendlessness is extreme! loneliness is the number 1 cause of depression! people commit suicide over friendlessness. It is not accurate to trivialize it so much.</p>
<p>^You’re being absurd. I’ve gone through periods of “friendlessness” in my life and I know enough about the world to know that it’s nothing like being homeless or hungry.</p>
<p>The latter is especially ridiculous.</p>
<p>my feeling on the “introvert” label —</p>
<p>I don’t think there is anything to be proud of if you are an introvert. I think it is sad when people accept the term, because often they are accepting a circumstance that they would otherwise not settle for. </p>
<p>Being an introvert is not usually why someone doesn’t have friends.</p>
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<p>You have obviously thought quite a bit about this. It just seems sad to me, because I see you settling for your circumstances, without even knowing it. I don’t think you always settled for it. But eventually you invented a lot of reasons for why things were the way they were, why you should even be thankful for how they were, etc., which made things tolerable.</p>
<p>It’s fine to do that because it makes living easier. But I think it would be good to see that you haven’t thought about things rationally, but you’ve thought about them with the subconscious motive of: what rational-seeming conclusions can I draw which will make me feel the best, or least bad.</p>