BFF4L (AEAE)
To some extent, I believe the notion of "best" friendships to be aligned with a certain degree of insecurity. At 22, I've accumulated many acquaintances and formed numerous friendships, some more brief than others. The only time I've really felt the need to verbally establish somebody as a best friend was when I felt there was potential for some kind of rift in the relationship – be it because of physical distance or actual events.
In this respect, the labeling of somebody could be viewed as a security measure. Husbands, wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, best friends...all of these concepts are based on relationships that could still technically exist (and thrive) without the aforementioned nomenclature.
Two people should be able to have a close bond that both understand and acknowledge without feeling the pressure to label that bond as one elevated compared to those surrounding it. Given this, I still think I'd be hard-pressed to find anybody in modern America who wouldn't confess to having a "best friend".
Is it a necessity? Is it a natural tendency to want to "lock that shit down"? Why do we rate and organize our relationships in order or importance? We internally know who is important, so why must it be advertised?
I'm not above this. I would certainly label my closest friends as my "best" ones, but only because I've done it for so long. To start referring to them as just my friends would make me feel weird, and possibly even psyche me into thinking they were suddenly less my friends than before.
So it appears I've fallen into my own trap.





