Values and principles are changing. I suppose it should since the only thing constant in this world is change. It's the sign of the times. Take the values of friendship. The basics are still much the same but in different contexts nowadays. At least when I was young, a friend to me was: Someone I played with; shared my toys with; quarrelled and made up with; shared my thoughts and dreams with; shared growing pains, troubles and problems ... There are not too many people you do these things with actually, only a select few. You enjoy the best and worst times with them and no matter what: They take you for what you are whether you did wrong or right; whether you've been bad or good; whether you made stupid decisions or came up with brilliant ideas.
It sounds infallible but that is a friend and with these descriptions, they come and go during the different phases in one's life. You have to nurture the friendships and you can't have these "true friends" when it is uni-directional. It has to be of the same intensity that they share things with each other. When one pours one's heart out, the other should listen as much as it's flooding the ears and needless to say, goes vice versa. But when one is always giving and the other always taking, then it becomes a one-way relationship and falling out follows. Many a friendship strayed and those left behind often wandered in bewilderment. Some with anger because it usually is the taker who gets left behind never knowing exactly what went wrong when it was just perfect for them. And as we journey through life, we find ourselves making new friends ... trying our very best to find that special someone we can grow together with until we are old and grey.
So friends have different spots in one's hearts; the friendship comes in different intensities and there's always somebody more special than another and there are the "best friends" or should I say the Best of Friends then?
Theoretically, therefore whoever you chose to spend your life with should be your best friend. The closest that you let yourself be to another being: heart, body, mind and soul.