Friend/Friendship There are varying degrees of friendship. An acquaintance is someone with whom little more than "Hi. How are you?" is exchanged. A good friend would be someone with whom we might spend some time talking about things with a little more substance, but not quite to the level where we'd trust our innermost secrets. A best friend is the person with whom we share our thoughts, hopes, dreams, and each facet of our lives to such a level that person knows us almost as well as we know ourselves.
Regardless to the level of friendship we've attained or how long we've known another person, we come to expect certain qualities in that person, particularly if we hold these qualities in ourselves.

Honesty For most people, honesty is one of the first things we look for in another person with whom we establish a relationship. If we, ourselves, are honest, we expect that same type of honesty in return from those with whom we mingle socially or romantically. This isn't looking at the world with naivete; it's the natural magnetic pull for a person to seek out others with similar characteristics. Certainly, we do not want someone just like us in mindset, or we'd be little more than a world full of automatons or lemmings. But we do seek out that which is conducive to further growth within the relationship, and that growth begins with a like set of core beliefs, such as the basic need for honesty between two or more people.
Honesty is breached within a relationship when one person tells another what they think the other person wants to hear, rather than what is truly taking place. The truth may undoubtedly hurt but not as much as the lie that will subsequently be uncovered. And lies always do manifest themselves sooner or later. It's only a matter of time before the truth comes out.
Does this mean that brutal honesty is always required? There is such a thing as tact, or basic concern for another person's feelings, which help soften the blow. The end result is the same - the truth is told. If telling the truth becomes an issue within a relationship because of fear of the other person leaving, being angry and never getting over it, then we must re-examine the strength of that relationship. A true friendship or love, grounded in basic honesty, will survive the truth, even if it's not always what the other person wants to hear. Relationships of any kind nearly always do not survive deception.

Love Love factors into relationships in many ways. We could spend all day discussing just this point alone, and the many different types or degrees of love. What we feel for our parents isn't the same love we feel for our spouses or significant others. The way we love a lover isn't the same way we love a friend. And so on it goes, through each of our alliances; different levels of love are felt within each association. With each person we meet, there is the expectation of the Christian principle to "love your neighbor as yourself," but it is true that we feel different types of love for different people.
When love can break a relationship is when love never really existed in the first place. That is, when one person tells another, "I love you," never really meaning it because they were merely dabbling or playing folly with another, love is suspect. We all seek love and affection from others in our lives, and so we all wish to hear those magical words, and we may fall into the trap of believing them because of our own need to be loved, when in reality, it wasn't love, but infatuation.
The textbook definition of love, which classifies an "intense sexual desire" for another as "love," is misleading. It is true, if you understand the truth of what "desire" really means. "Desire" and "attraction" are two separate things, often times confused. Desire is our being so in tune with another, we feel it deep within ourselves and we want nothing more than to get closer to that other person. Attraction is the body's natural, chemical reaction to that which we find visually or mentally pleasing.
If we must ask ourselves whether or not we really love someone, chances are, it's not really love. It's probably just infatuation more than fear of actually "being in love." If we continually ask our partners, "Do you love me?" that's a sign that something isn't right in that relationship. Be it lack of self-esteem on our part or mixed signals we're getting from our other half, or in some cases, the person asking the question does so because it's not love, it's attempting to cover up their own deception, this should be a red flag that something is amiss.

Trust Like honesty, trust or trustworthiness is a core factor in any relationship. Without it, there is nothing. It's one of the cornerstones or building blocks upon which any dalliance will grow and flourish. However, there are some serious considerations when looking at the concept of trust. When is it too soon to trust? Is there such a thing as too much trust? Can a broken trust ever be recaptured?
If people are honest and sincere from the beginning, trust is something that can be and should be given immediately. Many of us are afraid to give our trust away so easily because of prior experiences leaving us broken inside, but also because of the influences of the mass media and world around us. Our capacity to trust has been greatly diminished as a human society with the increase of dishonest people, so prevalent in every facet of our lives. It seems we cannot turn on the television, radio, or computer, or even pick up a newspaper without being inundated by deceit and corruption, stalkers, murderers and the like, being tossed in our faces at every turn.
The sad fact is, those of us who believe in the basic goodness of people because we are trustworthy and honest ourselves, are made to look like patsies. Unscrupulous people take advantage of our willingness and ability to give away trust easily and eagerly to those who have ingratiated themselves into our lives. Equally as sad as being played upon because of having that natural ability to trust, is when the deceitful soul attempts to turn the situation around and blame us for trusting "too soon." We go against values rooted within our souls, each time we hold back offering our trust to someone because of fear.
When we do give our trust to someone, we can't give it half-heartedly. It's an all or nothing situation. Withholding any portion of our trust from another person is the same as not trusting them at all. It sends out a subliminal message saying: "I trust you, but I don't trust you." That "but" negates the first part of that message. Once again, this lack of trust may either be because of fear, or because trust that once existed freely has now been broken.
It's very difficult to win back someone's trust once it's been broken. In fact, while most counselors believe it's possible, the saying "One may forgive, but one may never forget," applies. We do not forget when someone has hurt us by a deceitful action of any kind, and that's all it takes to shatter someone's trust irrevocably. It is possible to forgive someone for hurting us, as most of us are able to do, but we can never get the memory of the situation out of our minds. It will remain with us forever. Somewhere in the backs of our minds, there is always that little nagging feeling, wondering if, when faced with a similar situation, the person who broke trust would make the same decision as they had previously. Chances are good that they will. It's easier to repeat that which is known to us, regardless of consequence, than to attempt something new to change the outcome.

In no matter what stage of our lives or relationships we may be, we must need to take some harsh looks at our principles, our ethics, and our own moral codes of conduct. If we cannot hold steadfast to our own basic core standards, how can we expect it of others? It's true what they say: "What goes around, comes around."