I was whacking a 1901 hotdog the other day when I noticed something on the drink cup:
Who are your best friends?
Those who know your deepest, darkest secrets and have found your major flaws, but love you anyway.
How true.
I have seen those whom I regarded as friends who would be unctuous when with me, put up an amiable facade, just to score points, then storm away in a fit of apoplexy just because I disagree with some things they advocate, or do not listen to their advice; but those whom have stayed are those I regard as true friends, and they fall into different circles of friends.
I have an inner circle that is made of friends whom I have known for more almost three decades now. They number less than five. Although we hardly see each other because of our daily commitments, we remain as close as ever.
I have one I would term as my ‘family’ circle. Ironically, these are people who were just imaginary friends to me as we became online friends first, before finally meeting up. And through them, I made more ‘siblings’ from one of their circle of friends. One of them who was and still is my best friend is, of course, Wifey. This family circle is the one I spend most of my time with.
I have other circles of friends as well, like my General Diver Friends circle, then I have my Closed Diver Circle made of people I can trust my life with underwater, and have this intangible pre-agreed understanding with. We would know by heart when the other team member would run out of air without even having to look at his/her gauge.
No matter which circle of friends I am with, or spend more time with, each member of the respective circle would always regard me as a close friend. I have members of a circle who would be too busy most of the time to spend a few hours a month, or every quarter even, but is always regarded by other members of the circle as a member of that circle – one of whom is a cabin crew: she is always flying; at other times she spends more time with her colleagues than she would with us – as a matter of fact, we did not see her for four full months before finally being able to have supper with her, and never again since then. And that was two months ago. Yet, we would send her an invite whenever any of us were to hold a function at home or outside. We don’t condemn her just because she spends less time with us than she does with her colleagues. I would call myself a fiend and not friend if I were to do that to her. It is her right to make as many friends as possible.
Sometimes, sticking to just one circle makes you dumb. And the dumbest in this circle would be the ones who allow one dumb to become dominant and controlling, and utter ridiculous remarks like one dumb soon-to-be-former-president of a united apathetic country:
Either you are with us, or you are against us.
And you cannot get any dumber than that.
SeaDemon Says 