one is silver and the other gold

I can't say or hear the word "friend" without ironic overtones. Maybe it's just been my own consistent bad choices, but, in my experience, a friend is someone who hasn't yet had a reason or opportunity to betray you. Whenever someone tells me about a best friend or a wonderful, supportive group of friends, my (unvoiced) response is "yeah, riiight." I'm sure there are loyal, steadfast, trustworthy people out there. I just don't seem to be running into them.

A crack dealer once told me, "I don't have friends. I have associates." Exactly.