Are volcanoes friends or foes?

I guess I have to wonder if there is a real choice here. 
I mean, volcanic activity is a part of the geological time scale and time frame that far
exceeds humanity.  They will lie dormant for thousands of years and then erupt. I am not
sure if human emotions such as assigning alliance or repelling them will help in such a
condition because nature seems to go on without much of a care of how we perceive it in
terms of "friend" or "foe."  Mount St. Vesuvius would have done what it did regardless
if the citizens of Pompeii viewed it as a "friend" or "foe."  I think it did a fairly
good job of ruining their lives regardless of their
designation.

Relationship notwithstanding, I think that the
more effective frame of reference would be to construct a thesis statement where there
is  healthy respect for the awesome power of the volcano.  In this, you can discuss much
about the natural and scientific properties that govern volcanoes and talk about how
this is something that outstrips the capacities and capabilities of human beings.  The
ideas of divergent or convergent tectonic plates, their sense of time in that a volcano
can be as young as a couple of months in age or as old as millions of years, and the
extreme sense of destruction that accompanies the volcano.  I think that being able to
articulate this aspect of healthy and awe- inspiring respect that the piddly human being
has to have for the volcano is critically important.  This might allow you to bridge the
scientific condition and fact of volcanoes, something that is outside of human control
and human appropriation, with the emotional dimension of human expression, something
that we can control.