Situation Speech: True Friendship

ESU SPEECH
True friendships are like stars on a cloudy night, you may not see them, but they're always there. I read this in a toilet cubicle when I was in seventh grade at school.
By then, it was all about popularity, guys, makeup, clothes and all those middle school flings. It was incredibly important to me that I remained seated with my usual group of friends during lunch, and that we all remained together in the hallways. We were the type of girls that clogged the hallways, the type of girls that were inseparable. We had sleepovers nearly every week, watching Gossip Girls, having bubbly conversations about the hottest celebrity, and painting our nails glittery pink. I laughed along with the secrets they shared, usually accompanied with

These two words struck me like a knife. It was then that I had a moment of realisation, that friends are people I should feel confident and comfortable with, not people I should be playacting with. She gave me loads of advice, and she told me that eventually, I should move to her table during lunch. The heavy elephant that had been clinging onto my back magically disappeared. After talking to her, I pondered over whether I should move to another table or not for a month. During this month, my new friend was always next to me, making me feel better and understanding

The classification of this type of neglected friendship, according to Aristotle, is “imperfect”. Examples of these imperfect relationships can be seen a series of stories we all know and love, Aesop’s Fables, and especially in the fable of the Hare With Many Friends. The Hare has a lot of fellow jungle animals that all claim to be her friend. Then, one day, she hears hounds approaching her. She tries to escape with the aid of her friends. She goes back and asks her friends to help her- however, none of them do, with excuses that they believe are far more important than helping her. These are examples of “imperfect” relationships, where the Hare has made many acquaintances, but never actually found the meaning of true friendship.
With the true friendship that I had newly developed, I became much a more optimistic and healthier person. Last year, Harvard researchers reported that strong social ties with friends promoted health, both mentally and physically. I was finally able to talk to my friends about the hardships that I’d been going through. When my friends went through challenging times, I always listened to them, and gave them my earnest advice. I was able to communicate with my friends and talk about my interests without feeling like I was sailing under false