Posted: December 9th, 2022

How to make friends?

Good morning Principal, teachers and fellow students,
Welcome all new Form 1 students. This is the first school assembly. It’s our honour to have all come back to our school and to feel the harmonious atmosphere around the school. Form 1 stage is a critical period in which students need to adapt to the new environment. It’s a transitional period for you and you have to overcome these sorts of psychological changes. In the new school year, you will meet different people who are new to you, you will have many subjects that you haven’t encountered in primary school. I am the Chairman of the school counseling service. My name is Chris Wong from 6S. I am going to give all Form 1 new students some suggestions on how to make friends.
Firstly, let me tell you the importance of making friends briefly. According to Confucianism, ‘friends’ are one of the five important elements in interpersonal relationships. Friends give consolation, point out the mistakes you make and urge you to correct them. Friends are to be trusted and have the responsibility to ‘monitor’ each other. Friends are spread all over the world. Confucius even said, ‘Teachers are also your FRIENDS because they not only teach you knowledge and learning tactics, but they also teach you social ethics and morals. Morals are clues to guide you – not to act improperly, not to go astray.’ You see, friends are so important to us!

Okay, let us move to ‘what attracts people to each other’. There are two definitions. From a micro-view, people are always attracted by same gender, same age, same school, same residential building, and so on. This is because making friends depends on the interpersonal distance between them. The closer they are and the more often they see each other, the greater chance there is of making friends. From a macro-view, friends are not limited to the aforementioned factors – friends are spread all around the world. There are no boundary limitations to making friends. If people only have the same hobbies and feel good to meet each other, they will become friends.
I hope you will catch what I mean. Maybe I give you some real examples on ways to make friends, then you will have a better understanding on what I mentioned before. Firstly, ‘being active’ is of the utmost importance in making friends. Try not to be shy and dare to initiate the conversation. This is ‘interaction’ because the relationship of friends is bilateral, it can never be unilateral. For example, you can start the conversation by saying, ‘Hi! It’s hot. It’ll be good to go swimming. I like swimming, do you like swimming?…’ The content of the conversation is mainly about the same hobby. Of course, there are other ways to make friends, say, inviting somebody or even a group of people to a party, to a ball, to a feast, etc. Invitations are a symbol of sincerity.
People like to see someone else treat them in a friendly manner, so it is another good way to make friends. Ah…May I add a point? Just now, I talked about making friends who have the same hobby as you. You may even bring your actual stuffs along with you and give them a look. Say, if you like collecting stamps, you may being a stamp album along. So, when you feel bored, you can take out the album and discuss with your friends the meaning of collecting stamps, like learning others’ practices and customs and enhancing cultural awareness. Or if you like playing ball games, you can take a ball with you. You’ll find it very useful in case you need it. There are additional benefits, playing sports is fun and improve our cardiovascular functions.
Let me discuss the ways to make friends. In the ‘Age of the Information Explosion’, people can make friends on the Internet with the aid of devices, like ICQ, MSN and Skype. If you have a web camera and a microphone connected to the computer, you can even have audio and visual conversations with your acquaintance on the other side of the world. Making friends in the Net is not ‘virtual’ as some people say, but it may be risky sometimes. So, let’s move on how to make friends carefully.
Not everyone is kind-hearted, some are criminals and crooks, especially when we make friends on the Net, and we need to be very careful since you don’t have a face-to-face contact with the other even though you have a web camera. So, my advice is first, don’t meet the ‘friend’ you make on the Net alone, in case. Meet him or her along with your parents. Second, don’t tell your private personal information, say, ID cxard number, phone number, address to them under any circumstances. Of course, we need to be self-disciplined when making friends. Don’t tell lies on the Net!
Indeed, there are two kinds of friends. One kind is called ‘true friends’ and another kind is called ‘acquaintances’. It is very difficult to find true friends who totally have no barrier between you and him or her. But, you can make acquaintances very easily. So, the best way to do is to ‘turn your foes into your acquaintance.’ An enemy is no good, so you can turn them to acquaintances by just saying hello and goodbye to them. In this way, you can keep him with certain distance but the relationship is not antagonistic. In the meantime, you should try hard to consolidate and enhance your relationship with your true friends. Treasure them! Value them! Don’t lie to them!
In conclusion, it’s never difficult to make friends unless people become extinct. So, try your best to make good friends who are beneficial to you. I hope all you guys adapt to our school life this year. Thank you!

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