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Friendship is one of life’s treasures, in which a stranger suddenly becomes a
confidant and ally in life’s travails. Like two musical notes or two colors that
enhance each other, friends bring out the best in each other. How can we
promote friendship? We must search for it and recognize it, but also test it and
nurture it. Ultimately, our life will depend on the loyalty and love of our
friends.
My wife and I recently watched the whole series of The Fall and Rise
of Reggie Perrin. This 1970's sitcom was a seminal work about a middle
manager in a dessert business who struggles to find any meaning in what he
does. My wife and I are both doctors. One of the many conclusions we came
to about this very funny but extremely meaningful comedy was that being a
doctor is a long way from having a life like Reggie Perrin. On many
occasions both my wife and I wonder about whether being a doctor can every
be associated with being happy. The constant "seriousness" and the fact
that a simple omission error can result in catastrophic consequences for
patient and doctor alike, mean that you can rarely be carefree. However
like most things, if we lost that "meaning" we would perhaps suddenly
realise what we had lost only when it had gone.
What Is Friendship?
Friendship is one of life’s treasures, in which a stranger suddenly becomes a
confidant and ally in life’s travails. Like two musical notes or two colors that
enhance each other, friends bring out the best in each other. How can we
promote friendship? We must search for it and recognize it, but also test it and
nurture it. Ultimately, our life will depend on the loyalty and love of our
friends.
Competing interests:
None declared
Competing interests: No competing interests