Никоненко Тамара Петрівна

   It’s nice to have a lot of friends. You can enjoy many things together. All my classmates are nice children. But all of them have different charac­ters. Some are courageous, kind-hearted, curious, faithful, thoughtful of others. In my class there are no heartless and selfish children. I think it’s terrible when people are heartless, cowardly, cruel. Sometimes we can be idle and a little boastful! But we are always ready to help each other in hardships.
   We can learn about different characters from books and films. We also read different news about people in papers. All of us like amusing games and funny stories.
   A good friend is a friend in need, who is always willing to do some­thing useful for you, who can give good advice, who can keep secrets. Some of my friends are my neighbours. We live in the same street and go to the same school.
   Му friends usually obey their parents and teachers. They never com­plain of anything, they are worried about each other’s health. All of them are fond of nature. They like to take care of animals and plants. In sum­mer and in spring they help their grandparents to work in the garden or kitchen-garden: to dig the soil, to cut useless branches, sow seeds, water and weed plants. At harvest time they gather crops of corn, fruit, and vegetables. They never do harm to birds. They protect their nests, make bird-tables and put food on them.
   We have a lot of interesting conversation in our class. We discuss dif­ferent problems. Sometimes discussions are very exciting. In the evening I often talk with my friends over the telephone. When some of my class­mates are ill they have a good reason to ring up their friend and learn what their homework is. We also exchange opinions on different matters. Boys and girls get along well. They don’t quarrel. We have a lot in com­mon. A lot of my class-mates enjoy out-of-class activities and travelling. Travelling helps us to become more friendly. Besides we are always full of impressions and excitement.
   It’s good to have a friend who has fine qualities in his character: gener­osity, being reserved, reliable, intelligent, persistent in studying, straight­forward, reasonable, decent, honest, polite, punctual, kind, faithful, and warm­-hearted. You can be always sincere with such friends, you can think aloud with them. I hate selfishness, meanness, flattery, laziness, indifference, be­ing boastful, false, and greedy in people.
   The proverb says: “No man is useless while he has a friend”. But the greatest value that guides me in my life is kindness, and it’s no wonder. Usually kindness is harmoniously connected with other good qualities. If a person is not kind, if he’s selfish, if he cares only about him­self, then his other qualities — courage and will-power are worthless. You can see what a person is worth through his attitude towards others. If he is devoted to people, he is devoted to his work, to his country. Kindness is the main thing, the essence of what is best in a human-being.
   It’s unpleasant to deal with unreliable people and there is no doubt in it. Such people don’t possess the feeling of duty, they can let you down at any moment, they cannot be friends in need. When people are stubborn, it’s also bad. They don’t respect the point of view of other people, they are sure that they are always right, they don’t follow advice of other people. Some­times it’s dangerous to deal with such people, you can’t rely on their support.
   I think, it’s good to develop persistence and confidence in oneself, be­cause if a person is not reliable, he is unable to make conclusions and come to right decisions in proper time. A person can prove to be a person­ality by his deeds, not by his words. A proverb says: “Actions speak louder than words.” It’s not good to promise much by saying nice words. Let other people speak about your job, your deeds, whether they are useful or not.
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