New Zealand

The Lange government's Postal Services Act 1987 also reduced the monopoly of New Zealand Post to a limit of $1.75 and 500 grams. It was gradually reduced to 80 cents in December 1991 until the 1998 legislation took effect.

The Postal Services Act 1998, passed by a National-New Zealand First coalition government, repealed the 1987 Act. The new law provides for any person to become a registered postal operator by applying to the Ministry of Economic Development. Registration as a postal operator is compulsory for letters with postage less than 80 cents. Despite the Act, government regulation of the company still requires it to maintain certain minimum service levels, such as frequency of delivery.

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New Zealand Post's exclusive right to be the 'sole operator' under the Act for the purposes of the Universal Postal Union expired on 1 April 2003. For practical purposes, this meant another postal operator could theoretically issue stamps identified simply as 'New Zealand' with UPU membership. At around the same time, New Zealand Post adopted a fern-shaped identifying mark on its postage stamps, to be used on the majority of its future issues.

Friends

Ever since I was a child, my mother raised me to recognize various kinds of friends. There are three different kinds of friends in this life. I classify them according to how well I know them and how well they know me. We encounter each of them everyday, whether in school, home, or at play. However, we rarely spend much time actually thinking about and classifying these people. First, there are the “pest friends” – general acquaintances. Next, there are “guest friends” – social partners. Lastly, we have our “best friends” – our true friends.
The first type of friend is simply an acquaintance or someone we know. This means that you basically only know their name. You might not even remember what they look like if you away for a short vacation. Usually, you meet these types of friends in college, at work, on bus, or anywhere else you might be. You normally would not mind having a cup of coffee with them, but if anything else came up, you usually would have no problem parting company. You normally don’t miss them when they are elsewhere. It is also this type of friends who give you the most amount of irrigation. Since most of the time you are placed in a position where you have to act friendly, such as school or work, you would not normally tell a friend when he or she is doing something irritating, such as tapping the fingers on a table or chewing gum loudly. This is why I call them “pest friends”.
The second category of friends I call “social partners”. This is because they are closer than acquaintances, but nowhere near as close as a true friend. Social partners are usually acquaintances who evolve into “guest friends” through increased extracurricular activities. You know their name, a little of what they like or dislike, a little of their family history, and usually have several things in common. As the saying goes, “Birds of a feather flock together,” so too the social partners have to have several things in common. No one is going to want to spend any more time than necessary with somebody completely opposite and irritating to him. Keep in mind, that the biggest thing that distinguishes a “best friend” from a “guest friend” is the fact that “guest friends” usually don’t talk about anything deep or personal, such as their innermost desires and fears.
Usually, “guest friends” enjoy keeping the topic of conversation happy and light. They would not open up to you how they are really feeling. They are still preoccupied with “saving face”. You still do enjoy hanging out with them. But when the going gets tough, they are not there for you.
The last type of friend is the “best friend”. Normally, you know them the longest. You probably grew up together as children. He or she knows everything about you. Likewise, you know everything about him or her. They are basically like family. You would have no problem if they spent the night at your house. You know each other’s habit and can always tell when there is something wrong. You would not hesitate to share your deepest feelings or thoughts with them. “A true friend will see you through when others see that you are through”. A true friend has no problem correcting you of line. Likewise, a true friend will love you like a member of his own family. He will always be there for you. They are not perfect, but at lest they will always look out for you and help you and never do anything intentionally to hurt you.
On a final note, I would like to take sometime to say that we should always remember to keep in mind what kind of a friend we are to other people. Pest, guest and best friends surround us all. We should always strive to be the best friends that we can be. Also, as the saying goes, “You can’t use your friends and have them too”. We should appreciate and value all friendships that come into our lives, no matter how deep or superficial. We should always remember that all best friends started out as strangers.

Friendship is more than Friends

“True friendship is seen through the heart not through the eyes.”
Friendship is one of those parts of life that we at times take for granted. It rolls off of our tongues as if we expect it to be present in all areas of our lives. I hear our ‘friendship is forever’ or ‘friends always’ is a common thread that runs through our lives. But in truth how many true friendships do you have? Think for a moment and list those you feel are true friends and those with which you have a close relationship. Are they true friends? Is their friendship from the heart? How many people do you truly see as friends?
“Friendship is a living thing that lasts only as long as it is nourished with kindness, empathy and understanding.”
Friendship is a gift that two people give to each other. It is not an expected result of meeting but a true and unanticipated gift of enormous potential. True friends form a special connection that will weather any storm. True friends understand being human and give the other room to grow. True friends are there even when they are not expected to be present. True friends know and cherish each other’s gift.
“Friendship is love with understanding.”
Friendship is a path of unrelenting compassion. It is a view of life that encompasses not just your life but the life of the other. It is a special bond that is created out of genuine affection and is given freely to those who have shown their truth. It is given without the thought of reward but with the essence of the heart which longs for this special connection.
“Life is to be fortified by many friendships. To love and to be loved is the greatest happiness of existence.”
When friendship comes from the heart it forms a link to our soul that cannot be broken. It connects so strongly that even death does not sever the cord. That type of friendship exists forever in the realm of wonder for true friendship is genuinely a wondrous thing. It connects the physical with the spiritual and creates an energy that is impossible to describe.
“False friendship, like the ivy, decays and ruins the walls it embraces; but true friendship gives new life and animation to the object it supports.”
Friendship brings light into your world for it gives you the missing link to your soul. It provides a passageway from one heart to another and allows the transference of peace and solitude. Friendship gives and receives all that your innermost spirit desires for within friendship you will discover the Creator’s love.
“The best mirror is an old friend.”
When you look at your true friends you will uncover who you are. You will see a reflection of your soul and will in turn become educated in the pathway you follow. You will see your world before you and will see without any doubts the truth of your way. You see true friends are simply your self in disguise. By uncovering that disguise you see before your eyes the world you created and the being your have become.

Sense of Friendship

Friendship offers social and psychological benefits across the lifespan and has different values at different stages of life. Friendship in its broadest sense can be considered a connection between human beings alleviating the isolation of the individual human psyche. Friendship develops across the life cycle and changes as the nature of human psychology and social interactions changes. There are different ways of viewing the life cycle, one way being to see it extending through a series of stages covering infancy, pre-school, early adolescence, adolescence, early adulthood, middle adulthood, and late adulthood. Friendship is important at each of these stages and provides specific comfort and needed interpersonal connections for each individual.

The stages can be framed in different ways and have been by different theorists, and one of the more interesting is that of Erik Erikson because he also links each stage with life conflicts which help identify both the stage and the "problem" to be overcome as part of human development. Erikson's approach is a psychosocial theory of development which describes a series of eight stages in the development of the individual throughout life--Erikson divides the life cycle somewhat differently to get eight stages. This is based on the interaction of biological, psychological, and social processes, and it is the interaction of these processes that accounts for the "psycho" (inner) "social" (external) character of development.

Everyone have readings from literature on friendship, personal written responses to the literature, supported rea dings of the literature for the purpose of preparing a performance to share the literature with others, performance related to the literature, and jo

urnal writing on the topic of friendship. The authors conducted research using this unit and detailed the findings: In the various activity settings that we have described, the children read and wrote for a broad range of purposes, including indicating their understanding of the stories, expressing their own opinions, creatively representing the stories to others, and reflecting on their own beliefs about friendship. They experienced reading and writing in holis tic and integra te d ways. They assisted each other during activities, sharing their expertise and knowledge. Finally, from a developmental standpoint, the instruction began with the children, bo th in terms of their concerns about friendship and in terms of their current literacy levels. Friendship across the life cycle ca n also be identified with social support, something each person needs both to have support from a community and to be part of a community that gives support to others. . .

Element of Friendship

The other element of friendship is tenderness. We are holden to men by every sort of tie, by blood, by pride, by fear, by hope, by lucre, by lust, by hate, by admiration, by every circumstance and badge and trifle, but we can scarce believe that so much character can subsist in another as to draw us by love. Can another be so blessed, and we so pure, that we can offer him tenderness? When a man becomes dear to me, I have touched the goal of fortune. I find very little written directly to the heart of this matter in books. And yet I have one text which I cannot choose but remember. My author says, — "I offer myself faintly and bluntly to those whose I effectually am, and tender myself least to him to whom I am the most devoted." I wish that friendship should have feet, as well as eyes and eloquence. It must plant itself on the ground, before it vaults over the moon. I wish it to be a little of a citizen, before it is quite a cherub. We chide the citizen because he makes love a commodity. It is an exchange of gifts, of useful loans; it is good neighbourhood; it watches with the sick; it holds the pall at the funeral; and quite loses sight of the delicacies and nobility of the relation. But though we cannot find the god under this disguise of a sutler, yet, on the other hand, we cannot forgive the poet if he spins his thread too fine, and does not substantiate his romance by the municipal virtues of justice, punctuality, fidelity, and pity. I hate the prostitution of the name of friendship to signify modish and worldly alliances. I much prefer the company of ploughboys and tin-peddlers, to the silken and perfumed amity which celebrates its days of encounter by a frivolous display, by rides in a curricle, and dinners at the best taverns. The end of friendship is commerce the most strict and homely that can be joined; more strict than any of which we have experience. It is for aid and comfort through all the relations and passages of life and death. It is fit for serene days, and graceful gifts, and country rambles, but also for rough roads and hard fare, shipwreck, poverty, and persecution. It keeps company with the sallies of the wit and the trances of religion. We are to dignify to each other the daily needs and offices of man's life, and embellish it by courage, wisdom, and unity. It should never fall into something usual and settled, but should be alert and inventive, and add rhyme and reason to what was drudgery.

Friends & Friendship

A lot of people go through life with only a few friends. It seems that some have less than that. They have no one on whom they can call in good times or bad. There is no one with whom to bounce ideas around, or to talk about deep and troubling subjects. They have no one to call in times of need or difficulty. They are at the mercy of life, standing alone.
Others seem to have a multitude of friends. Wherever they go, people know them, and like to be around them. Should trouble strike, their biggest hesitation might be over which friend to call. They know exactly the person with whom to discuss the topics of inquiry and debate. Life is full of entertaining and invigorating relationships because it is full of friends.
There ought to be a course in school on friendship. Of course, some people are perfectly happy to operate with fewer friends. They might rather have a few deep and loyal friends, than many superficial ones. Others thrive best when friends are everywhere and numerous. It is not so much the number of friends that is important as is the possession of friends, period.
Friendship is a blessing, and a friend is the channel through whom great emotional, spiritual, and sometimes even physical blessings flow. Friends can cheer us when we’re sorrowful or depressed. Friends can challenge us when we allow ourselves to get beyond our reasonable boundaries. Friends can motivate us when we’re ready to give in, and they can provide for us when life falls apart. They are there when all is well, and we want someone with whom to share life’s pleasant and memorable moments. We often just want them around to have a good time, to laugh, to act silly; to enjoy some mutually liked activity. In how many ways have friends enriched our lives and made us feel loved, accepted, respected and cared for? Probably, too many to list, and the list grows daily.
It is safe to say that when God created the world and all the majestic things in it, when he streaked the heavens with radiant color and the earth with grand mountains and awe-inspiring canyons, when he painted the plains with waving grasses and erected noble forests of towering trees, he outdid it all by creating friends. Why not take a moment or two and thank someone today for being a friend to you?
May God bless you with all the friends you need, and may he turn you into a blessing by using you as a friend to others.

Love & Friendship

LOVE AND FRIENDSHIP
Two men lived, and two men died,
and each saw the world through a different pair of eyes,
and throughout their ventures, they often stopped to cry,
for one closed his eyes and the other was blind.

The blind man was full of hope and cheer,
but that wouldn't last long, didn't you hear?
The blind man took a risk and leaped through a door,
and now we find that his heart's been broken,
it shattered on the floor.

Like all blind men he was in the dark,
and he found that love isn't just a walk in the park.
He fell head over heels,
and he dared to feel,
but like many of the blind he tripped and fell,
and his unrequited love has put him in a spell.

The blind men's depressed now,
so was it worth the risk?
You decide if your heartbreak's worth just a kiss.

Two men lived, and two men died,
and each saw the world through a different pair of eyes,
and throughout their ventures, they often stopped to cry,
for one closed his eyes and the other was blind.

The man who closed his eyes was often called stupid,
but he was the smartest of all, and here, I'll prove it:
The man always had a friend which he could turn to,
a person who would never say "I think that we're through."
As a kid he learned that its best to close your eyes
and that you'll still have pain but your heart will never be slain.

He fell head over heels,
but someone helped him back up,
and then that someone fell,
and he helped him out of hell.

This man's depressed now,
but what do we know?
That he has someone to help him, when he is feeling low.

Two men lived, and two men died,
and each saw the world through a different pair of eyes,
so remember this when you're gonna shout a lonely cry:
Love is blind, but friendship closes its eyes.