Friend or Acquaintance?

We have been discussing this a lot around here lately. Just recently I had a dear friend point this out to me. You have friends and acquaintances in your life. Friends are there no matter what. Don't judge. Will go to help you bury the body or dispose of a suspicious package for you. Well maybe not your friends, but mine would. Don't ask why I know this....just don't. Acquaintances are those who you may think are your friends but they are just there because of something you have in common. Job friends are most likely acquaintances. If you get fired, move up or move on they usually fade away. You no longer have the job stuff in common, you don't see each other daily. One day your realize you have not heard from them nor do you miss them. Sometimes people you think are your friends will turn out to be acquaintances, and you will know this because you may make a change and they will have A LOT to say about it. Not supportive at all. In fact they may even make mean and rude comments to you. A new friend has recently acquired a snake. Yay for her. She has a new pet. Except one "friend" who berated her for it. "You can't trust someone with a snake." Hmmm Did you trust her before she had a snake? How did she suddenly become some horrible person due to a pet choice? This is no friend. This is an acquaintance, and when she changed this friend become, in truth, her enemy. It makes no sense. She is the exact same person. But now the acquaintance and her are not on the same page anymore. They are different. Different is good! Friends stick around. Friends will support you no matter what. A friend may not agree with your choices and tell you why, but ultimately will support you. Unless it is something truly harmful to you, then a real friend will try to help you make a better choice. An acquaintance will not really care what you choose. Or will be very judgemental and tell you so. If you look around and really take stock of those in your life I bet you will find that you have a lot more acquaintances than you do friends. If something major changed who would still be around? I was fired a few months back. Not only was I devastated for that, but I was dealing with other personal losses. Those that I thought were my friends were not. No phone calls to check on me. No messages. Nothing. It was as if I ceased to exist.  They were merely work acquaintances. Except for one. She has proven to be a true friend. Now at my new job I am more aware of the fact that these new people, no matter how nice they are, are just acquaintances. I wonder if any of them will turn out to be another friend. Maybe not bury a body friend, but that is OK.  I already have one of those. Maybe. As far as you know.