FRIENDS

“Said that I’ll be your friend, took an oath I’m gonna stick it out till the end”... who cannot help humming to this lyrics, the infamous ‘Umbrella’ by Rihanna. A very good morning to the honourable adjudicators, teachers and friends. The topic I am going to speak on today is “Friends”.

Who in this world can survive without friends...? No one... Even Will Smith in ‘I Am Legend’ had aliens as his buddies. We need friends to laugh with, to be our playmates and to lend an ear when we are down with problems. It cannot be denied that students like me today, in fact prefer to go to friends to pour out all our problems...

Remember your first crush? That oh-so-cute Harry Potter in the movie? With his gentleman behaviour and his owl glasses? Where you could sit for hours and watch the movie over and over again while swooning about him. Well... Most of us tend to be caught up in this fantasy world where he would be Prince Charming. I’m sure you did not run to your mum and say “mummy mummy Daniel Radcliffe as Harry Potter is soo cute...” She would have said “Enough dreaming. Go and study for UPSR.” What will your friend do in the same situation? Sit down with you and say “yeah, I wish I was Hermione. At least I get to act with him!” This explains it all... we totally and utterly need our friends in moments like this.

Not only in our fantasy world our friends also need to be by our side as our ‘Fashion Police’. I am sure none of you would want your mum’s advice on what to wear to a birthday party where mummy will say “Dear, this is a comfortable dress. Never mind the striking pink rabbit on the front, it makes you all the more attractive”...with your friends you could choose the gorgeous dress with matching heels which will look FABULOUS as Kimora Lee Simmons would say. You can save a major fashion disaster.

Next exam fever. There’s about an hour to go before an exam when suddenly it strikes you that you haven’t memorised the important idioms yet. Who else other than your best friend will sit next to you and repeat the words over and over again so that it will enter your brains and hopefully remain there for the next two hours.

“Friends are like angels without wings...” Yet not all can be angels... there are some out there who are more like devils in disguise. Exactly like the paparazzi. When you are all gorgeous and problems free like Hannah Montana you become the ‘teen idol’ but when you start having downfalls in your life you become Britney Spears.

The same thing goes with your friends. There are some of them who are only by your side because of your status as ‘the popular kid’... but when suddenly you are not so cool anymore, they ditch you. Thus, you must always be careful in choosing your friends. Never allow other people to choose out your friends. As it goes, “Do not tell me whom to pick as my friend, remember, I picked you.”

We all can’t help picking up the phone and dialling our best friend’s phone number when we are bored. Or moving our fingers with the speed of lightning to SMS our friends when we have nothing to do. Or even cycle to their houses to catch up on the latest gossip. Because this is what friends are for.

As life goes on, we lose our friends and gain a lot more. Some friends stay true to your side, some were never there for you to begin with. Well, there are times when one special friend ends up becoming your bridesmaid. Good or bad friends come and go. But there’s one thing for sure. We can’t live without them. Here is a poem on friends:

Do not walk behind me, I may not lead...

Do not walk in front of me, I may not follow...

Walk beside me and be my friend.

With that, I thank you.