The Perfect Friend

Bianca Grossi

Dr. Josefsberg

Period 1

The Perfect Friend

The perfect friend is someone who knows you like the back of their hand. Someone who knows your ups and downs, your strengths and weaknesses, and your good sides and bad sides. Someone who respects all of your flaws. A perfect friend is someone who will be there to lend you a shoulder to cry on in your worst moments and to give good advice. Someone who doesn’t lie, someone who is honest. All of these qualities is what makes a perfect friend. It is not often you find people like this who have all of these qualities. Too many friendships are taken for granted. Too many friendships end. It seems that a genuine, unconditional friendship is almost impossible to find. The perfect friend shines in a crowd, the perfect friend looks out for the interests of the other person instead of only theirs. A perfect friend is honest, loyal, spontaneous, and an excellent communicator.

In the Kite Runner, Hassan is the perfect friend. He is there for Amir no matter what. He is brave and is not afraid to stand up for what is right. He is honest with Amir and very loyal to him. There is a moment in the novel where Amir asks Hassan to run down a kite. Hassan states, “For you, a thousand times over”. This quote proves how loyal and willing Hassan is to Amir. He could have easily just said no you can get it yourself, but what Hassan really wants is to make Amir happy. Whether it is running down kites or scaring away bullies, Hassan will do just about anything for Amir.

After the incident with Assef and Hassan in the alley, Amir feels a lifetime of regret and guilt. Things like that don’t just go away, they stick with you for a long time. Instead of doing what Hassan would do, which is to go over to the bullies and stick up for his best friend, Amir ran away because he was scared. After that moment Amir had years worth of guilt and regret to make up for it. When Amir realized the mistake he had made, he wanted to be more like Hassan. He wanted to be the Perfect Friend.

Things like that show you how rare it is to find someone that special. You could find someone like that if you search diligently, but most of the time it is impossible to find a friendship that is pure and genuine. Too many friendships come to an end over the smallest things. Too many