This is a subject dear to my heart, something which I think about very often.I define friend as the common casual friend. I won’t go into the close buddies yet, that’s for another day.Everyday, we frequently cross paths with many people but we just never seem to acknowledge or speak to some of them. The question is why. Why is it that despite having a multitude of opportunities to strike up conversations with an acquaintance, we never seem to go over and say “Hi” to the person? Is it because we cannot be bothered or because we are simply too shy? Perhaps we just want the other person to come over to us first, so we don’t have to be at the disadvantage. I can go on speculating for ages, there are countless reasons, but I shall think through some of them.I sometimes have difficulty in separating casual friend from acquaintance. Is a casual chum one whom I see very often, yet we occasionally speak to one another? Or is a casual friend one whom I had a great conversation with once and after that we just simply ignore each other? Tsk, tsk… This is very complicated indeed. Argh… I tell myself to stop wondering about these trivial matters at times, but time and again these thoughts pop into my mind. They will never stop coming back to me no matter how hard I try to forget about them. At times my mind is like a vacuum and I tend to think about things which have very superficial because I have nothing better to think about.Back to the subject. I tried to remember some of my own personal experiences with people whom I originally never thought much of. It is rather curious to see that after being forced to spend a couple of days with aperson, we become inseparable. It is pretty amazing to find that I could have so much in common with someone whom I initially percieved as “not my type”. I think that both parties in this case would have to be willing to open up and be friendly to each other, as in want to know each other. Even if they don’t seem to have anything in common, if they try to look hard enough, there is bound to be some common ground somewhere. In other words, we have to see the best in others and be optimistic about it. Even though, trying to be friends with a person may seem hard at the start, it will be truly worth the effort when you have another person you can trust and depend on. Sometimes when trying to befriend someone, there is always that risk of rejection. The thing is that if the other party is not interested, it is not your problem, it’s theirs. It’s their lost. Anyhow, do your best and let the chips fall where they may.In conclusion, I believe that we can all be friends with one another, if only we are bothered to get up and strike a conversation with the one sitting next to you. So be brave and put on a big smile! 
