I don’t often express a personal opinion in print. That’s not because I don’t have any, but because I don’t feel I have the right to ram opinions down other people's throats. I can almost always give room for an opposite view, or range of views, and have great respect for our differences - in fact, I cherish our differences. I will, of course, express many of my thoughts and ideas through my writing but I prefer to leave it up to the reader to find value in them and be stimulated or reject them and dump them in the trash. Not a problem.

You know there’s a ‘but’ coming, right?

But…  when did friends become ‘assets’ to be ‘leveraged’ for the purpose of ‘personal advancement’? Who gave this venal, self-interested, manipulative, exploitative, bottom-feeding section of society the right to use the unique values of friendship as a tool for self-gain? By what right did they hijack one of the most valuable and intimate relationships we can ever have and turn it into a casual link over an anonymous connection for the sole purpose of increasing one’s personal social wealth? I am outraged at the misappropriation of one of the most significant values of human culture. Friendship is a form of love. It’s precious.

I know who my friends are and they know I’m their friend and we all know what that friendship means and none of us need a button on a dicing webpage to confirm it.