Remember inviting everyone in your grade school class to your birthday party because you were all “best friends” and it was rude to leave someone out? How many of those people are you still friends with today?

If you’re thinking to yourself that you don’t talk to most of those kids anymore or haven’t even thought about them in a blue moon, you’re not alone. You’ve probably matured. You’ve moved on. You’re way better off without them because they have no effect on your life anymore.

This happens to all of us. Whether you want to admit it or not, your friend group has probably shrunk as the years have gone by, especially in high school. People have moved away, moved on and left completely. You don’t need them anyway. It’s the true friends that will stick by your side no matter what.

Even now at college, you may keep in touch with some of your friends from back home. That’s great! Anyhow, if you find yourself always making the effort to contact them first and they don’t seem like they want to talk, then what’s the point of keeping in touch with them? 

On the contrary, if your friends from back home do want to keep in touch and make effort to contact you first, then you’ve sure picked winners right there. Don’t let them go too far out of sight. 

College is a great stepping stone in life where you meet tons of new people, and most of the time, they are the ones who will also become your true friends. They genuinely care about you and everything you do. They truly want to be a part of your life. 

I have had that experience thus far at the University and have met some incredible people I am now honored to call true friends. I know these people will stay in my life for a long time. You’ve more than likely had this experience, too. Keep those people in your life as long as you can. 

At the end of the Tony Award Winning musical “Wicked,” Glinda sings these words in the song “For Good” to Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West and her best friend in the show: “I’ve heard it said that people come into our lives for a reason, bringing something we must learn and we are led to those who help us most to grow if we let them and we help them in return.”

These words strike in a way that is so real, so vivid and so true. Your best friends list now may not be as big as those you had your childhood birthday party. That’s OK. If you have a couple true friends around you who will do anything for you and you all enjoy each other’s company, then you’re friends for life. Don’t ever let the magic run out.

Noah is a sophomore in LAS.

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