One metaphor that I once heard was true friendship is like building a house; without some kind of structure and foundation, they will both completely fall apart. There are many things that can go wrong along the way, and if either deed is done in a careless manner, we are only setting ourselves up for complete failure. Both start with a foundation, the most important aspect in both friendship and building a house. Without the proper foundation on a house, you might as well not finish the job you started because it’ll be a waste of time and a disappointing sight to see the house collapse or have irreversible damage as time goes on. In a friendship, this foundation is the trust and honesty between those involved. If there isn’t trust from the start, the entire friendship has the potential to fall apart later down the road. I’m sure that we’ve all gone through this before; friendships destroyed due to lies and deception from the beginning, or even a misunderstanding or deception as the friendship begins to grow and develop.

If the foundation is successfully created, we’re off to a good start, but silly mistakes can easily be made; problems could arise along the way that could set the process back or even demolish the entire project altogether. If the foundation of the house is flawless, putting the frame up and building the walls of the house could be problematic if the process isn’t handled in the correct manner. Any loose boards or careless tightening could cause the framing to come down and leave you back at square one. Likewise, any silly mistake with being careless of other’s feelings, trust can be broken and the friendship could be in jeopardy and could end up back down to the foundation, with hopes of trying the building process all over again. The roof of the home, with the main function of completing the house and providing a rounded feeling of shelter to those inside could never function without the flawless foundation and walls, to protect its inner contents. The roof is a monumental stage in a friendship; the shelter is complete and is strong, seeming that nothing could ever destroy this structurally sound friendship.

Although this metaphorical house has been built and a friendship has been established and seems to be indestructible, even now things could take a tragic turn for the worst. We all know if we don’t maintain our houses, they could slowly deteriorate in various different ways, just as a friendship can. The more we neglect a home or a friendship, more and more damage will be inflicted and will be very costly to fix. If we don’t make sure our homes are clean, mold or other pests could infect the home and slowly but surely destroy the house. This metaphorical maintenance also applies to a friendship; regardless of how much is invested in the friendship, if communication or any other important aspects are cut off, the friendship will begin to deteriorate as well. A catastrophic situation could destroy a friendship faster than any other cause could; betrayal of trust, unnecessary intrusion, and complete shutting out of one another could cause the friendship to crumble to the ground, just as a strong earthquake could do to a newly-built house. We all do our best to avoid these catastrophic events to maintain our close friendships; however these can be inevitable, like an earthquake, and our best defense is to be prepared for the devastation and endure the hardship of beginning to rebuild it all once again to indulge in your effort’s benefits.