To be a friend to someone is to consider their well-being as much as your own, if not more.
Who has the time or energy for that?
Also, whenever I offer real friendship to people, they often become suspicious, like there’s something else I’m expecting in return - I’m being nice for a reason, but not telling them.
Well, here I am telling you everything! I want to become friends with every single human being in the world, including you. In fact, since everything in this world runs on money, I want to make it my day job to be your friend. I’m committed to you. Really. $5/day for unlimited texting with me. Let’s start there.
No topic is off limits. I want to hear it all. I’m better than your therapist, because I will also tell you about my life, which therapists are not allowed to do. Ask me anything - I am more than happy to share my life with you. Try me! :)
What are you afraid of? What do you wish you could say to your loved ones? What are you struggling with? Why do people suck so much? What do you find hard in life? What can’t you absolutely stand? What’s one thing you wish you could change about your life?
ok so I made a company - we sell friendship haha do i have you hooked yet haha lol ok well like you know i was originally inspired by Werner Herzog’s film “Family Romance, LLC” - which is like a fake real documentary - fake coz they use actors but the actors are actually from the company which is a real company in Japan - they provide like fake moms and dads and sisters cousins and whatever, boyfriends, spouses, grandmas, you name it haha its silly i know but like there are many services like these in Japan - this isn’t the only one but like its the one that’s been picked up by western minds and audiences i guess -
anyway Family Romance LLC - so like in Japan there’s a big honor culture, so like if you show up at a wedding and you dont have your husband coz he’s drunk at home or like if you haven’t been talking to your mom or whatever, its a big shame for the individual and family. sometimes you can lose your job or not get an interview etc. so Family Romance provides a fake/pretend spouse or family member for weddings, funerals, dates, etc. nothing physical, just a body stand-in real -life to play the part. There was a stand-in dad who was there for a 12 yr old daughter who never knew her dad.
idk i thought it was so demented but touching at the same time it struck a chord with me so i was like ok how do i do this in America? we’re not so much a “honor” culture as we are …cancel culture haha and more - but im like ok facebook - we like friends. friends we can handle and we need more of. like real ones. ever since the pandemic especially a lot of us struggle with loneliness and what not. from all ages really.
there’s this guy Arthur Brooks who wrote a book i cant remember the name but like he talks about “Real friends” and “Deal” Friends - Real friends being those that are there fore you no matter what - who call you up just to see how you were doing and aren’t asking anything of you. etc Deal friends are ppl who ’s friendship is conditional - you scratch my back i’ll scotch yours. you know someone who you can get something out of. etc idk this book was written in the 90s and in 2023 i m scared to note that maybe all of our friends are deal friends really. like even your mom - you hang out and see her but doesn’t she want like a coupon from grub hub or target or something?
lol its not anybody’s fault per se and we’re not canceling people, but like just acknowledging the condition that we’re living in. everything has a cost, or the expectation of one. and instead of pretending its not case, my approach is to embrace it and learn to deal with it as a starting point, at least. ok so we are all deal friends. why not just start with the money up front, and not pretend that we dont want anything in return for our good natured humanity presence/whatever, and like just deal with the money up front, so we dont have to wonder what the other party’s really getting out of it behind the scenes?
Real Friends, LLC is birthed from this sentiment. let’s get money out of the way, and let us see if we really cannot be your friend, for real. Not an AI chatbot who responds impressively right away but like a human real human being who has feelings, fatigue, has to eat, go to the bathroom, sleep, go to their day job, deal with real life circumstances, and also dedicated to being your friend. There are 2 streams we’re offering - 1) texting option - 2) in-person visits, hang out for a day etc try us!
