“Make new friends but keep the old, one is silver and the other is gold.” This is a phrase we hear quite often but don’t often stop to think about. On the surface this quote makes you think, oh new friends are just as good as the old, so you should keep them both around. But is this true? Is this what this quote is really saying? “One is silver, and the other is gold.” But gold and silver are not equal. Gold, as we know, is more valuable than silver. So does that mean this quote is saying your old friends are more valuable than your new friends? Maybe. But is it valid?
You can know someone your whole life, but still not really know them. These are those surface-level friendships that never turn into anything more than lunch dates and gossiping. You have fun together, but you don't really know them as a person. Those are the silver friendships. "Silver" friendships might rust, but the remnants will still remain in the memories you have. Then there are the friends that you can literally talk about anything and everything with; you just get each other. The friends that you would trust with your life. Those are the "gold" friendships. "Gold" will not rust; those friendships will last a lifetime.
I have been at college a mere six months, yet I have already found friends who are as valuable to me as anything. Friends who I can truly be my "best self" with. Friends who I can indulge my creativity, curiosity, and adventure with. Friends who I feel like I have know my whole life, yet I have only known for less than a full year. Friends who are “gold.”
This is not to say that I don't love and value my friends from home I have known for almost my whole life. I have grown up with them. I have built my life with them. They’ve humbled me. They’ve cried with me. They’ve encouraged me. They’ve made me the person I am today. Yes, they are my best friends, and I wouldn't trade for anything in the world. Yes, they are also "gold."
I would argue that any meaningful friendship is "gold." My friends that I have made in college could have very well been the friends I grew up with. I spend days at college thinking I am at home. Heck, the reason I stayed at college was because of the friends I made my very first weekend at school. So yes, some friendships might be "silver," and others might be "gold." However, time shouldn't be a measurement of friendship. I think that the value of a friendship cannot be measured by the length of the friendship, but instead by the depth of the friendship.
