"The Meaning of Friendship Usury" is an insightful hubpages article which defines friendship on a philosophical level. Friendship is Love +/- Usury, desire, and a few other aspects according to hubpages author loua. While this article offers an excellent working definition of friendship, and an idealistic way of measuring it in terms of gratification, there is still more to be said on the subject of friendship. His essay defines friendship while mine tells why friendship needs to be defined.

If you are what you eat, then, if I eat strawberries I will grow sweet, and if I eat swine, I will begin to oink. The same goes for friendship, the better the people I befriend, the better I will become.

If, when I'm young, I'm fed friends who are like swine, chances are, I will be living in a pen later in life. What we feed our children is in the news on a regular basis, from healthy formulas, to choosing breast-milk over the bottle, and even the expense of school lunches on taxpaying citizens. As it should be, the dietary habits of America's youth is an important topic lest we raise tomorrow's taxpaying citizens to die of coronary heart attacks and whatever other abnormalities eating unhealthily may cause. What we don't see in the news on a regular basis are informational segments on choosing the right friends for your children. This topic is too often ignored by the media, as it becomes a gateway for racial debates and discriminatory attitudes. As a result, the touchy subject of what constitutes for friendship, the ingredients for your special meal are left alone.

If I allow myself to eat everything that comes my way, I am no better off, for having made no decision in the matter; I have become less worthy of the decision.

Put into this context to mean that non-discriminatory practices lead to non-discriminatory behaviors. Say for instance, I move to a new neighborhood or city, and upon meeting people I instantly add there numbers to my cell phone, face-book them, make lunch plans, and dinner dates. I make an active attempt to pursue friendship with each of these people. I eat them all, short, fat, hairy, mean, nice, pretty, exciting, dull people.  I am going to eventually find myself a very busy person. Which is good, however without weighing into account any of these peoples attributes I may or may not become a happier person for doing so. In fact, It is more than likely that I will become sullen and withdrawn, not knowing true friendship and feeling used.

Why? Well, if we don't measure each ingredient properly, we end up with a meal not fit for eating. Choosing a variety of sweet strawberries, a small ration of pork, a few healthy greens is important.

If strawberries are so sweet and tasty, why not eat them all the time? Silly, silly as it sounds, you will suffer immensely without the proper diet. We eat the other food to survive, ask yourself, where will I find the strawberries?  How will I know I am eating strawberries, how do I know they are sweet? "There is no instance in social encounter that navigates clear of usury."  So, don't try to navigate clear of it, just take a decent path around it.  There are an estimated 6.79 billion people in the world, not all of them are strawberries; and your bound to eat your fair share of pork looking for good strawberries.