What's in a Friendship?

What's in a friendship? You know the steps to take to start one... and you're off! The bond you share seems great for a while! You're hanging out all the time, basically inseparable. You're sharing laughs, having drinks, making jokes, revealing everything secret about yourself and who you are, there's nothing that could break this bond... everything is great. Then somewhere along the way, something happens and the friendship goes sour. There is no going back to how things were. You don't feel the same comfort being around that person; there's no trust. So can you ever really know someone? I guess you can... you can know them for who they are when you met them, but sometimes people change. That's how life goes. Certain occurrences take place in peoples' lives and they are no longer someone who you vibe with. No particular "wrong" happened between the two of you personally, but life just just takes us our separate ways to fulfill our dreams. You still keep in contact, but the closeness drifts. On the other hand... there are those who will form a tight bond with you. It seems like a "forever friendship" until you find out who they are underneath the mask. People will use others to get ahead in life. It happens everyday. They don't take into consideration the effect it has on the other end of the wire. You receive no remorse, no care as to your feelings being crushed. It's a painful process to deal with sometimes when you become really close with someone as fake as a three dollar bill! I have now been in that situation a couple of times, so it was on my mind.
"No person is your friend who demands your silence, or denies your right to grow." - Alice Walker