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“What was there to be gained by fighting the most evil wizard who has ever existed?" said Black, with a terrible fury in his face. "Only innocent lives, Peter!"
"You don't understand!" whined Pettigrew. "He would have killed me, Sirius!"
"THEN YOU SHOULD HAVE DIED!" roared Black. "DIED RATHER THAN BETRAY YOUR FRIENDS, AS WE WOULD HAVE DONE FOR YOU!” (Chris Columbus.Alfonson Cuaron.Harry Potter and The Prisoner of Azkaban. June 4, 2004. United States: Warner Brothers.) 

Harry Potter and His best friends scheming a plan. 

My family raised my siblings and I  with very typical Colombian and Latin American customs and culture. Among those customs, is the high valuing of friendship. Once one makes a very good friend, one values that friendship and will go to great lengths for a friend. The following quote by Baltasar Gracian, a famous Spanish philosopher and writer, goes hand in hand with the Harry Potter quote and displays this cultural belief in Latin America. 

Some of my best friends 

“True friendship multiplies the good in life and divides its evils. Strive to have friends, for life without friends is like life on a desert island..to find one real friend in a lifetime is good fortune; to keep him is a blessing.”

Another set of Hollywood Best friends

                                                 

Some of my best friends 

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban shows this high value of friendship both with Harry and his friends but even more so with Harry’s parents and their friends. As I examined these relationships and thought about how much the Latin American community values friendship; I began to wonder why is it that Latin Americans value friendship so much? I think it may be for two possible reasons. One, most Latin American countries have less wealth than developed countries such as the US or European countries,so for that reason people learn to value non-materialistic things more.Thus friendship is more vital for happiness.  Second, in many Latin American countries the cities have all the resources and the further you get from the cities the harder it is to find commodities. Because of that often people crowd into the city. This is a contrast from the US because most in the US live in suburbs where they have more space from their neighbors. I would argue this physical proximity, also adds to making more friendships. Along with the living situation point, most Latin Americans tend to stay in one place for generations  versus other areas of the world where people move around a lot. Regardless of the reason, the validity and evidence of Gracian’s quote especially among the Latin American people is undeniable.