“Hey Ross, here’s a science question. If homosapiens are really ‘homo’, is that why they’re extinct?
“Joey, homosapiens are people.”
“Hey, I’m not judging!”
Its past 2 am at night, and I just finished watching the last episode of friends; again, for the umpteenth time. And once again I find myself experiencing the very same mix of sadness and joy that I did the first time I finished friends; a feeling which one would rarely ever associate with finishing a television series. It is more than a feeling of accomplishment, much much more than that actually. It is an indescribable feeling to be honest.
And I sit up to think, what is it about this TV show which catapulted it to such heights? It is after all a story involving 6 friends, 6 routine people with routine lives and stories, albeit with hitherto unparalleled humor. But then, humor alone is not what made friends what it is. It is not for humor alone that year after year, day after day many more people like sat up nights to watch this story unfold, over and over and over again!
And tonight finally, I guess I know the answer. Friends reminds people of all that is good in life. It reminds them that life needn’t be complicated at all; that there is joy and happiness in the small things. The small things, but with the correct people, that is what makes life worth living; what makes 10 years of drinking coffee in central perk pass by in the wink of an eye. Essentially it is all that every human wants from life; happiness, just that it takes them an eternity to realize the fact. And happiness isn’t that tough to have. Having the right people in your life, doing the small things right, facing everything with a smile, that’s all there really is to life.
If you think about it, each of you will realize that the story of friends wasn’t really that removed from reality. Each of you will actually have these characters in your life; a Joey who never fails to make you laugh with his nonsensical thoughts; a socially awkward chandler who makes jokes when he’s uncomfortable; a phoebe who’s straightforward to the point of being uncomfortably blunt; a Monica who’s a freak in more ways than one and yet somehow extremely likeable; and a Ross and Rachel who’s names you somehow always end up taking together.
There’s a small part within all of us which never wants to give up being a child, which relishes the childlike friendships and fights, and the freedom to do what the heart desires. I guess it is to that part that friends appeals. It is that part of us which is contented and happy, just as long as there’s someone to hold our hand and say,
“I’ll be there for you, when the rain starts to fall. I’ll be there for you, like I’ve been there before. I’ll be there for you, coz your there for me too!”
