On attachment: Gandhi vs. Orwell

In one of my classes, we recently discussed Mahatma Gandhi's proscription that you should have no close friends because attachments to others will lead you to compromise your principles and ideals. As someone who values and finds strength in my various personal attachments, I found this statement very interesting. I realize how influential other people can be, but it seems possible to maintain close relationships and personal beliefs. In George Orwell's essay "Reflections on Gandhi," he expresses his views on this theory of Gandhi's with a statement I found very true and powerful: "The essence of being human is that one does not seek perfection, that one is sometimes willing to commit sins for the sake of loyalty, that one does not push asceticism to the point where it makes friendly intercourse impossible, and that one is prepared in the end to be defeated and broken up by life, which is the inevitable price of fastening one's love upon other human individuals." While I can understand that Gandhi was willing to treat everyone equally and sacrifice his attachments in order to dedicate himself to God, I would rather live a life filled with all of the incredible complications that go along with a close relationship.