"Friend"

"Friend" is a flexible word. There are Facebook friends, good friends, childhood friends, BFFs, boyfriends, former friends, frenemies... In fact, some people consider the colloquial english use of the term a little loose and would put many of those people into the "acquaintance" category. It was pointed out to me a few days ago that I tend to call lots of people my friends, even when we are not actively involved in each other's lives - and that got me thinking.
I had just hung out with a couple of friends who I hadn't seen in a while. Ok, in several years - but I still consider them my friends. How can I call people "friends" when our lives have diverged significantly since high school? I don't even really know anything about their lives any more.
I realized that it has something to do with how I think of them; I would go out of my way to give them a hand if it were needed. Ah-ha. So Friend isn't a title I hand out based on how much I know about you. It's based on my actions. When I say "they are my friend," what I really mean is that I am a friend to them (at least most of the time I try!). 
I think this puts friendship in the same category as a bunch of those other great things in life - love, grace, peace... We like to believe that they're just phenomena or emotions that occur when conditions are right. It really isn't so! It's how we choose to live with people on an everyday basis. 
So to the person who told me recently that they did not have many friends, my question is: how many people are you a friend to?