Duty or friendship?

Hm...this is a really a tough call, especially when one understands the grave consequences of his or her decision. I hope that I would never have to make such a tough decision, but I knew at some point in life I would have to. Life seemed to have a mind of its own, and when a person's life was just hitting off way to smooth, dilemmas and turbulences like this one will occur. Now to answer this question, I would probably say it depends. There is no absolute equation for my action, it all depends on the situation. I would weigh duty and friendship on a mental balance and whichever sinks will be which ever I'll keep. Some issues I would try to weigh as I make my decisions are 1) Is the person really important to me. I know that this seems cruel, but as history has proven, humans are selfish animals. 2) Is the duty important to me. What will I lose if I don't do this. 3) What effect would it have? These are a couple of things I would spend time thinking of before I make these decisions.