Family and Friends

Friendship, as understood here, is a distinctively personal relationship that is grounded in a concern on the part of each friend for the welfare of the other, for the other’s sake, and that involves some degree of intimacy. As such, friendship is undoubtedly central to our lives, in part because the special concern we have for our friends must have a place within a broader set of concerns, including moral concerns, and in part because our friends can help shape who we are as persons.

Almost every person in our society starts life in a family of some kind. The kind of family one has influences the kind of person one grows up to be. In families, children first encounter concepts of right and wrong, as well as role models who shape their sense of what it is possible for them to do and be. Families are an important school of moral learning, but too many families teach inequality and subordination, not principles of justice.

How has friendships and family ties shaped your life? Is there more friends that feel like family? or the cousin that feels like a best friend? How do you introduce a friend (stranger) to your family? How do you prepare your friends to meet your family? How does your family and friends influence you? What do they push you to do? What do you want from them? Why? What questions do you have?