According to the Merriam Webster Dictionary, a friend is a person who you like and enjoy being with. Again, according to The American Heritage High School Dictionary, a friend is a person whom one knows, likes, and trusts.
These two definitions aren't any different from each other. Suffice to say that the intended meaning is portrayed in different wordings.
An "Ideal Friend" is one who is exactly right for a person. The perceived comprehension of the phrase is then a subjective one - just as it pleases the subject.
So, everyone has his own subjective definition of who an ideal friend should be, depending on the criteria, mostly subconsciously prescribed by the subject.
But looking at it from a less subjective point of view, an ideal friend should be a "good" one. I understand that some people (mostly those who are into metaphysics) would have a problem with that. But then, to and fro, there must be a standard - a yardstick.
An ideal friend should exhort one to kindness, honesty, truthfulness and other virtues. He shouldn't exhort one to lying, cheating and other vices.
We all have a lifespan. Life itself has a span. Friends would always constitute an important part of our lives. Mingle with the wrong ones, and you would be in "trouble". Friends undoubtedly have great influence on our personal and outside lives.
It is thus expedient, that we are careful in choosing our friends, not hesitating to lay them off our lives when they constitute constant, perpetual blockades to our positive ideals while making sure that we keep our interaction sphere as rich in its constituent varieties as possible. This would ensure that we engage in more heuristic considerations and our thoughts, more holistic and all encompassing.
