Theme
of zoom meeting: Special Friendship
Last updated June 23, 2020
Discussion guide copyright 2020 by Richard E. Gordon
Duplication prohibited without author’s permission.
Many questions and quotes follow – no doubt far too many to tackle during the limited time of our meeting. But there is no reason to cover all them. Let’s just choose from this question/quote bank the ones you would like to discuss. As your moderator, I will try to give everyone an equal chance to share her/his ideas.
1. Without referring to the dictionary, give your definition of a special friend. Include in your definition how a special friend is different from a friend.
2. Can you have more than one special friend at time?
3. Can your husband or wife fulfill all your needs for a special friend, making it unnecessary for you to have other special friends?
4. Can you be a special friend during this pandemic to someone who may desperately need your special friendship?
5. Can you have a special friend of the opposite sex without any romantic entanglements?
6. Can having a special friend be good for your mental health? Can you be mentally healthy and yet have no desire to have a special friend?
7. What was your first special friend like? Did he/she have any long lasting influence on your life?
8. Do you have a special friend, still alive and well, whom you have not contacted for a long time? If you haven’t, why not? Is this a good time to make the contact?
9. Is it important to have a special friend in your life? Why?
10.What are the characteristics of someone who might qualify as a special friend?
11.Should everyone have a special friend? Are there any disadvantages to having a special friend? Have you ever been hurt, even betrayed by as a special friend?
12.How can a special friend be a positive force in our lives?
13.Has UUC or whatever church, synagogue you belong to been a source of special friends? Should your spiritual home be a good place to find special friends?
14.From our discussion today, did you gain a new view on the value of having a special friend? Has our talk helped you change your attitude in some way – big or small – regarding the role of having a special friend in your life?
15.Quotes on “special friend”
16.“A real friend is one who walks in
when the rest of the world walks out.”
– Walter Winchell
17.“Friendship is born at that moment when
one person says to another, ‘What! You too? I thought I was the only one.”
– C.S. Lewis
18.“True friendship comes when the silence
between two people is comfortable.”
– David Tyson
19.“You can make more friends in two
months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by
trying to get other people interested in you.”
— Dale Carnegie
20.“A true friend never gets in your
way unless you happen to be going down.”
– Arnold H. Glasgow
21.“There are big ships and small ships. But the best ship of all is friendship.
-- Unknown
“Friendship is like a glass ornament; once it is broken it can rarely be put back together exactly the same way.”
“Friendship improves happiness, and abates misery, by doubling our joys, and dividing our grief.”
“Friendship marks a life even more deeply than love. Love risks degenerating into obsession, friendship is never anything but sharing.”