Old Friends

Old friends are unique in our fast paced, ready-in-an-instant society. The tendency is to try and keep up with the latest news, technology, and fads, if for no other reason it gives us something to talk about while we try to keep up. It represents a vicious cycle to me sometimes.

This is why old friends are even better than new friends. We have had more time to cultivate the relationship and there is less than can be hidden. Our new friends don't have the perspective of time and really only know our current incarnation of our self. They are valuable just the same but different in a number of ways.

It hurts more I believe to lose an old friend than it does a new one. Both occurrences are tragic in their own way but when the friends we made as children leave our lives, either voluntarily or not, there is an emptiness we feel that often times cannot be replaced by a new friend.

It's very common that a busy life will prompt us to let old friends slip away and make us cling that more tightly to our new friends. Again, having friends is what is important, and even more important is how we treat them and the other people in our lives.

I compose these blog entries with my old friends in mind. Every once and a while, like just last week, an old friend will email me to tell me of their interest in my recollections. Sometimes they offer me one of their own, but they always get me thinking about how we crossed paths at an earlier and seemingly more innocent time in our lives. It always makes me feel good and gives me the incentive to try and capture those old time feelings in words. Only our old friends can do this and that is why it is so important to stay in touch. I believe that of all the claims made about the Internet there is little doubt that it has helped us find and keep our old friends better than all the previous technologies and methods which came before. I fully expect to see the day when retirement homes are filled with seniors emailing, video conferencing, and posting their thoughts online, even if they are bedridden. It all makes me feel less afraid of growing old as I know I will be doing it with the people who knew me when I was young.