Is it better to have friends who are similar to you than those who are different from you? |
People, especially sociologists, often discuss whether it is better to have friends who are similar to you than those who are different from you. I strongly believe that making different kinds of people is more beneficial not only because you can learn many various ideas and opinions from them but also because you can broaden your human relationship. First of all, by interacting with various kinds of people, you can learn a lot of ideas and opinions. As everyone knows, making friends who are different from you is not the only way of being exposed to various ideas, but in my opinion it is one of the most effective ways of doing so. For example, suppose that a student who place great emphasis on the value of life discuss their friends about the issue of euthanasia. Although his point of view about the euthanasia is established before discussing the issue with his friends, he can learn many new things about the issue while exchanging ideas one another; namely, euthanasia has positive aspect of respecting the right of people who have no further hope to live, though some people consider it legal killing. This example illustrates the importance of making many different kinds of friends who does not have similar your opinion. Moreover, making different kinds of friends will give you a chance to broaden your human relationships. Of course, relationships with many kinds of people are sometimes negative, because such relationships are often superficial. However, the advantage of gaining broader human relationships eclipses this modest disadvantage. Let’s say that you are a musician and your music genre is limited only hip-hop. If you always want to make friends whose music style is only similar to you, your social network will continue be narrowed. Although musicians should do well their own music style, it is hard for them to be a great world musician without insights of many other types of music such as classic, pop and so forth. People can have such insights through interaction with many other types of people and social relationships. This is why I argue that making different kinds of friends is better than making friends similar to you. Taking all of these things into account, it is beneficial for you to contact with various kinds of people different from you. As a result, you can not only broaden your knowledge and opinions, but also build your social network. |