I realize that the standard answer to the question, "What is the most important thing in life?" ...is your soul.  However I don't want to talk about the afterlife or the road to getting there. 

It's easy to rule out the material things as most important unless of course you are a materialistic person or someone without a moral compass. 

Now that we've eliminated these two things, what is left?

Well the best way to learn lessons in life is to walk the path to enlightenment.  What I mean is nothing teaches you like experience.  I wrestle with this question, What is the most important thing in life?

The answer comes down to two considerations; friendship or family?  I say both but for the sake of this article, I must put family just ahead of friendship. 

Seeing or knowing a real friend comes when your back is against the wall and they step forth to help.  Family ...They will always be there due to that blood bond. 

Is it even fair to pick between the two as to which is most important?  Can you place value of one over the other?  I think it's fair to say that family will stand by your side many years longer than a friend may.  For instance let's say you are wrongfully jailed in a foreign country where you can be forgotten.  At first friends and family come to your aid.  Over time, the only ones to stay with you would be family. 

You could argue that a wife or husband is family, they are not.   Look at divorce rates.  Near 60 percent of all marriages end in divorce.  No one would start a business with a partner with such poor chances of success.  This point should speak for itself.  A wife or husband is a friend ...   more »