Some argue that they would rather make friends with those who share same opinions, whilst others believe that it is important to have friends who disagree occasionally. Personally, I agree with the latter view and I will elaborate both in the following.
On the one hand, making friends with people who agree most of the time provides the basis for a friendship. This is because only people who share similar thoughts on important topics can forge a genuine and long-lasting friendship. For this reason, when it comes to core issues such as values and morality, two persons must present a great level of mutual understanding to one another. For instance, real friends should have common ethical principles such as loyalty, kindness and hospitality that serve as the guidance for them to behave in a similar way as friends.
On the other hand, friends who sometimes express dissents to you can help you think more rationally. In reality, it is impossible for two individuals to agree upon everything all the time. In this regard, friend’s criticisms can sometimes help reassess one’s takes on a specific matter so that he or she can avoid being overly biased and prejudiced. Speaking from my experience, it is true that many of my close friends hold different views from me on some political and religious topics. In this case, their disagreements did help me reshape my rather extreme views so that now I see them from an impartial viewpoint.
In my opinion, I believe that it would be helpful to have friends that disagree with you because it allows one to examine things from different perspectives.
To conclude, although having similar-minded friends who always consent to you is important, friends who have different voices can help you to think in a more sensible way.