Coaches Corner by Ellie West: Friendships

A “friend,” according to the dictionary, is “a person with whom one has a bond of mutual affection, typically one exclusive of sexual or family relations.” It comes from the Old English freond, of Germanic origin, and is related to Dutch vriend and German Freund, from an Indo-European root meaning “ to love,” shared by “free.”

C.S. Lewis says friendship is less valued in modern times than it was viewed in earlier times. What makes it distinctive to the degree that it has suffered this devaluation? He states that, first and foremost, the obvious answer is that few value it...