BurmanBooks is a publisher of motivational and self help books

How did the fear challenge go?? Since I didn't hear from anyone regarding their accomplishments, I will assume no one did it. Disappointing if true, but everyone does things at their own time.

Last week I had an interesting email request. It's funny, because when I talk about this with friends, they all agree, but don't really want to acknowledge it because it's scary.

The request was from someone asking me to get her tickets to Russell Peters upcoming show. I admit, I was already a little agitated from the days' events, and so I replied with 'So I only hear from you when you need something'. It's her reply that caused me to write this. Her reply was 'That's what friends are for, to be there when you are in need'. Hmmm..for her sake, I really hope she was kidding, even though I think she wasn't.

I always admit that I don't know everything. In fact, I don't know anything, I just use the wisdom of others and my own past experiences to come up with my own conclusion. The fact that I have had experiences that I consider myself lucky to have had, has also made me careful and opened my eyes.

Friends are most times confused with 'acquaintances'. We see someone often, laugh with them, go out with them and they become 'friend'. If we were to trim the fat from our social circles at our most difficult of times, how many people would be left?

Another way of looking at it would be, based on your circle of friends, how much do you know about them? Do you know their favorite color, passion or goals? Do you know what their family life is like or the troubles that keep them up at night? What about if you are the one they come to, but really don't ask you about your life? How much do your 'friends' know about you? How much do you know about them?

Friendship is much like the titles husband or wife. You don't give the title to just anyone in your life, only to one person (unless you are Liz Taylor or Larry King). You save it for a special person.

We see pics on facebook of people smiling in groups and consider them friends, but are they? Maybe you should really be honest and see who that friend in your life is and get to know them better. They say if you have 4 friends at your funeral, you've lived an exceptional life. Donald Trump said that he knew who is real friends were when he filed for bankruptcy. I think that some people surround themselves with lots of people just to avoid being alone because they know they don't have friends and are scared to death of being alone. I think if that is you, then great! Acknowledge it and start from today to build a relationship with someone that is built on substance and depth, not on a fantasy since that will only leave you disappointed.

You can read poems, stories, songs and movies about what friendship is, which I will leave to you to build your own interpretation, but what I am aware of is that friendship is not just going through the good times together, but the bad as well.

So to my 'friend', I think you are wrong. We are acquaintances through your time of need.