I don’t like the term “best friend”
This is probably going to make me sound stupid and nitpicky, but whatever. I’m not going to yell at you for calling someone your best friend. I just don’t have much to write about today, so I thought I’d put this out there.
I’m sure you guys remember MySpace. Those of you who had profiles probably remember the top 8. You’d hand pick 8 people to show up on you profile and put them in order, #1-8. If you put someone on your top 8 and they didn’t put you on theirs, it was devastating (or at least, it was to 15 year old me). I always found the whole thing weird, though, and figured out how to hide my top 8 eventually, go me! Looking back, that probably just made it look like I hated everybody, BUT I DIGRESS.
Ranking the people in your life who care about you is stupid, and that’s why I hate the term best friend. The dictionary definition of “best” is as follows: That which is the most excellent, outstanding, or desirable. It almost seems as though every friendship we’re in, we’re competing with all of that person’s other friends, and the winner gets the ever prestigious title of best friend. Of course I’m exaggerating, people aren’t generally that competitive, but sometimes it can hurt a bit when one of your close friends is talking about their “best friend,” as if you’re just not quite as good.
I also find it rubbish that “best friend” is often synonymous with “oldest friend.” If someone asks me who my best friend is and I don’t feel like saying “oh, I have a bunch,” like I usually do, I’ll default to my friend Chase. I’ve known her since early high school and we still keep in touch and talk and hang out regularly. She definitely is one of the people I’m closest to. However, there are several people who I am just as close with who I haven’t known as long. Sure, we don’t have as many memories, but I don’t think that makes our friendship any less valuable.
Sure, this mini essay I’m writing is kind of dumb and unimportant. But I do think we’d be better off using terms like “close friends” and “old friends”. Each friend of mine means something to me in a different way than all the others, and I don’t think it’s fair to rank one of them as “best.”
/endrant
PS: Life update! I got a job! I’m going to be a violin teacher! :D
