When you ask someone how many friends they have, they will give you a reasonable number. But the moment they see someone in public, they will introduce them as a friend. So, clearly they have more friends than they said they had or they have no idea what a friend is. This is basically one example of playing at friendship. The other example of playing at friendship is exactly as it seems, it is playing a game in which you treat someone you can't stand as a friend. Both of these tactics are used on a daily basis by basically everyone.
The first thing that must be looked at is what is a friend? A friend, in my view, is someone who you are close to and you have complete and utter confidence in. So, when I ask you to tell me how many friends you have, I'll be concerned if you can name more than ten at the ultimate most. Anyone who does not fulfill this requirement is an acquaintance in my mind. So then, why do people basically label all their acquaintances as friends? Simply because it's the safest route to take. By not calling someone an acquaintance, you end up saving some face in front of that person, but any sort of integrity that you had is now long gone. Another issue is the word acquaintance itself. People refuse to use the word as if it were some kind of taboo, but at the end of the day, that is the farthest thing from the truth. An acquaintance is someone you are not too familiar with, nothing more nothing less. It is time to remove the fear of this word and accept it into everyday use.
Now, playing friendship with someone you hate is a very similar situation. In this scenario, instead of trying to avoid an awkward situation, the ultimate end goal is to avoid any sort of confrontation whatsoever. It seems as though people are too afraid to speak their mind anymore. When someone did not like another back in the day, they were told. Instead, people nowadays, hold back and play nice, but that is all it is, playing. What is real about being nice to someone you can't stand? What standards can you truly live by if you lie to yourself and others?
By playing friendship, you are essentially saying that you don't trust yourself from being able to protect yourself from any sort of confrontation that comes your way. If we can't trust ourselves, then what can we trust in? You can't truly claim to have a friendship with anyone if you play at friendship. Friendship is a two-way street, just like you believe in your friend, you make it so they can trust you completely. Playing at friendship is essentially lying to yourself and others and it destroys everything that should matter in a relationship.
