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Episode 902 Friend Turnover
This is Retirement Talk. I’m Del Lowery.
I’ve entitled this episode, “ Friend Turnover”
What's a friend worth? Of course, a price cannot be set on what a friend is worth. Money just doesn’t compute – or convert. Republicans and democrats could probably agree on that. I think it was Aristotle who defined a friend as one soul in two bodies. If it wasn’t him it was someone like him; some great thinker. The Supreme Court justice who was trying to describe pornography might have also applied his definition to that of friendship. “I know it when I see it”
One thing about friends in today’s frenetic world, they have a way of moving on. Either they do or we do. An old friend of mine in Alaska was talking many years ago about the idea of moving “outside” or, “the lower 48” as the contiguous USA is called. I had suggested that it might be good for him to move just for the change. He quickly straightened me out with the statement that he didn’t have to move to have change. “All my friends have moved: either that or they died,” he said. “You can stay right in one place but it keeps changing all the time”.
He was a good friend, but emphasis on the “was”. We moved. He used to come to dinner, celebrate holidays and frolic with our children. Now we exchange Christmas cards and see him once a year for about an hour when we visit Alaska . There are others.
We all have our stories. Sometimes a friend from the past pops into our lives with a phone call, a Christmas card, or a facebook request. These are blissful moments; emphasis on “moments”. They just don’t last. There's no depth. We've lost contact. I have seen some old friends in the past few years and it was wonderful but somehow it doesn’t make up for the long dinners, the walks together in the woods, the close contact that emerges only in real time and real space.
“Friendship requires duration rather than intensity,” some philosopher said. They went on, “He who has many friends has no friends”. I know that facebook calls our contacts ‘friends’ but of course they are really just acquaintances. Or, I suppose they could be called friends in the loosest sense of the word. We were once “friends” or people we knew in one way or another. Don’t get me wrong. I like facebook. I like reconnecting with people from the past. I’m not sure I have made any new “friends”. It just seems like a devaluation of the word “friend”.
I just returned from a road trip where I reconnected with three old friends - meaning friends I have had for over 50 years. It was super sweet to meet up and talk off in conversation almost like we have never been separated by thousands of miles for many of the 50 or more years. We have lived apart but yet stayed close.
Another former friend of mine gave me a bottle of wine many years ago. “It is really good wine,” he said. And then added, “If you open it when you have a good friend over it will be all the better”. How true.
We have to take care of our friends. They are not easy to come by nor are they easy to hold on to.
This is Retirementtalk.
If you have questions, comments or suggestions contact del@retirementtalk.org
A resource from a listener: Best Free Online Degrees for Seniors guide is designed to assist seniors who aspire to enhance their intellect or consider starting a new career path. It features an overview of the top online degrees for seniors, emphasizing their numerous advantages, and a broad range of subjects to choose from. A friend's website: Terra Firma Designs: Fine Furniture, Stained Glass and woodworking workshops. Copyright 2010 RetirementTalk.org |
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