Human beings are social creatures. Society is built upon the series of relationships we have, whether they be with classmates, romantic partners, parents or the cashier at the Chevron on University Boulevard. So, our survival is dependent on relationships. We need people regardless of how they fit into our lives and who they are.

Now, I use the word “relationship” liberally. One may not think of their brief interaction with the friendly cashier at the Chevron as much of a relationship compared to a relationship with their friends, but it is. They serve a purpose to us just as we serve one to them.

So am I saying that a relationship between two or more people is supposed to fulfill the needs and desires we have within ourselves? Yes. We have needs and wants that we cannot meet by ourselves so we form relationships with others to have those needs and wants fulfilled.

Now, I’ll never lead you astray in what appears to be tangential, superfluous fluff, so have faith and follow me into the Promised Land and enjoy these words that will, undoubtedly, be the milk and honey to your cerebral cortex. I’ve stated that relationships are what sustain the human existence, but I’ll speak more specifically on what I have found to be one of the most valuable relationships we can have. That is a friendship.

A good friendship with a good friend can get you through anything good, bad, happy, or sad. And I believe now is perhaps one of the most crucial periods in our lives to have good friends.

We are becoming adults. We are becoming the people who we will be for the rest of our lives. Parents tell us to be the best we can be. To do that, we have to know who we are.

If you feel that you cannot be everything you are with your current clique, then it’s high time to find a new one. We need friends who will let us be who we are, who will accept and love us unconditionally. Our personal growth will be forever stifled if people who want to shape us into something we are not surround us.

This is the time to find those people who fulfill us in all the ways we need and desire to be fulfilled. I have fortunately come to these realizations through personal experience with my friends.

It is important to be careful and selective with the people we choose to befriend. We must ask ourselves what we need in a friend. Do we need someone who looks like ourselves?  Do we need someone that shares our non-academic or academic interests? Do we need someone to have stimulating conversations with?  Do we need someone who shares our religious beliefs?

I was lucky. I didn’t have to search. My friends fell into my lives and I fell into theirs as if it were predestined.

Find people who will support you. Find people who will feed you when you’re hungry, clothe you when you’re naked, offer you refuge from life’s storms. Find people who’ll loan you money to get your car out of the impound when you don’t have the money. Find people who’ll drive you to your house that’s two minutes away on foot just so you don’t have to walk at night alone. Find people to sit in the Ferguson Center with and people watch. Find people to spend hazy summer nights on the couch watching bad movies and stumbling through the internet. Find people that will make you a better person. Find someone that you want to make a better person. I pray you won’t be discouraged in your journey to find these people because I have found them for myself.

Devon Morrisette is a sophomore majoring in interdisciplinary studies.