Compassion for the misery of others and a ready willingness to help a person in distress, represent a quality much easier to find than an altruistic delight in the other’s joy. My mother used to say that the best proof of ‘a friend indeed’ is not necessarily ‘a friend in need.’ A much truer friend, she said, is one who has no envy for your good fortune and who can share with you a moment of your happiness like it were his or her own. I think that this is a much deeper and subtler observation than the one about a friend in need. Because we are not talking in this case about pretenses and ulterior motives. We are talking about the real thing, which is indeed a priceless rarity.
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