Relationships are hardly ever convenient. Whether platonic or romantic, it seems like relationships come and go frequently.

Old friends in particular make up a long list of people we simply don’t keep up with anymore. From preschool to high school, and beyond, it is rare to find a friend who we still make an effort to keep in touch with. Is being there only when needed or when it’s convenient the only use friends actually serve?

It seems like there are friends for every period of our lives. When we need their companionship and support, they mean the world to us. Yet the second they lose their convenience, they also lose their value.

What happened to our high school friends whom we swore we would keep in touch with and haven’t talked to since? Rather than continuing our old friendships, we simply search for new ones. It has become far too easy to create new friends and a new life, while forgetting about the old.

In some ways this could be looked at as a positive trait. It seems our society has learned to easily adjust in different situations. But what happened to life-long friends? Without a base of friends to rely on, who will be there when we need someone? It has become increasingly easy for even the closest friends to drift apart with a change of situation and the loss of convenience.

Can this even be called friendship? In my mind, friendship is based on loyalty. But there is nothing loyal about throwing away relationships with no remorse. Maybe I am old-fashioned when it comes to this particular topic, or perhaps I am trying to hold on to something that can never become reality.

While it seems that humans long for some sort of loyal companionship, it is impossible to build that sort of reliance and trust with someone when you are constantly dumping the old and adopting the new. True friends take years and years to form, and, in my opinion, they should never be thoughtlessly thrown away.

I know a majority of the friendships we make aren’t worth the effort or hardship it takes to keep the relationship afloat. But for those people who we truly care for and truly love, how can it be okay to throw them away?

A true friend is hard to come by, so why carelessly dispose of those we do have? New friends constantly come our way as we move towns, schools or jobs, but the old and loyal should never be discarded or forgotten.