Everyone needs a brother (or sister)

Although he sometimes annoys me and I don't always agree with him, I'm grateful for having a brother. He's helped me through the worst times of the my life, and even when he can't actually do anything to help he often supplies surprising wisdom or useful advice. He's also been at the best events of my life – my graduations, wedding and so on. Those are the qualities I think anyone should look for in a brother or sister and I don't think you necessarily need to be born with one. Honourary siblings can be just effective as biological ones. I think another key to the relationship, which you can't create artificially, is a long shared history. We've helped each other process the residual confusions and neurosis left over from our unique childhood and from the mental illness of a close relative. No one else who's only been in my life as long as Facebook has been able to understand my family issues in the same way. So cultivate your sibling relationship(s), honourary or not, even if they drive you crazy sometimes.