Last night while I was with some friends, the topic of "real" friends came up. There was no objection that we need good people to be around, but is a good person enough? We as humans were not created to live alone, hence why the God created Eve for Adam in the Garden of Eden.

If you ask strangers what their idea of traits that would fit a "real" friend, you will most likely get responses that include trustworthy, reliable, forgiving, loyal, persistent and most importantly genuine. I'm sure you can analyze your circle of friends and think of someone who does not quite possess all of these traits, but before you decide to cut some people out of your life you need to ask yourself some questions.

Do they get out of their comfort zone to tell you things like you have food in your teeth or that your pants are unzipped in public? While bringing these things up may be awkward, at least a friend who tells you this cares enough about you to make sure you don't embarrass yourself later on. Another question that is important to ask yourself when evaluating your friendships is can you go to them when your life is falling apart and when you are at your highest points?

A story came up in my conversation last night where a guy was sitting beside a stranger watching a basketball game on television when a friend of the stranger came up and began telling him about how terrible his week had been. The friend had just lost his dad and was struggling financially and thought that he could come to his "friend." Instead of acknowledging this hurting person, the guy never took his eyes off the television and offered nothing but, "that sucks dude."

That story infuriates me because the guy obviously thought he could talk to a person he trusted, but that trust was ill placed.

After reading this article, I hope we strive to be better friends, REAL friends to those around us and evaluate the friends you do have to make sure they're genuine.