Left to right: Steve Van Beek, Kevin Farenkopf, Paul Escoll, Dr. David Gyepes, Your’s Truly, Andy Logan, & Daryl Landy. (c.2001)
These days most things can be had with the well-ordered strike of a few keystrokes. They usually arrive within seconds digitally or a few days by truck, perhaps a week if there are shipping complications. Jobs can be found, romance born, business relationships forged in the ether of our modern internet biome. All these ‘friends,’ ‘likes,’ ‘followers’ add up to…Something I suppose. However, no thing or connection that can be had so immediately compares with the feeling of finding oneself in the company of old friends.
Enduring relationships are created and perpetuated via the practices of patience, commitment, forgiveness, and a healthy dose of introspection. Old friends know us, often better than we know ourselves. They watch us break, and aid us when they are able in the process of picking up the pieces. They share our triumphs and offer a shoulder when we need a place to lean.
If you have old friends, you are blessed. If you have lost touch with someone you once held dear our modern world offers ample opportunity to reconnect. Few things on the average to do list can provide such reward. Some say that real connection is a dying art. Fortunately other say that history is cyclical. Wherever you find yourself on this wheel of life I wish you peace, love, and enduring friendships. In the words of Clarence the Angel, “No man is a failure who has friends.”
