Friendships: The New Commodity

Rainsong* said to me that gullibility is the number one factor of innocence. So, hypothetically speaking, it is intrinsic to be duped, lied to, cheated on by people closest and dearest to you, for example, your friends.

Friends come and go - a timeless phrase and a cautious one. Some friends hang on a little longer while others pop by only when it is blue skies and sunny outside your porch - the fair weather friends. The porch has to be clean and dry before they decide to pop by with a thermos and look you up. If its a stormy day, or a humid one, they probably won't be seen hanging at your porch. They always check the weather report before deciding if they should pop by. So it is no surprise when you realised, your so called friends decided to single you out even on a fair weather day.

Perhaps the group is ballooning with new faces, and that particular car isn't able to accommodate more than five bottoms or your social status is close to zero - that kind of reasons. On their slick faces, everything is fine and dandy, light and gay, sweet and soothing. Singing praises to each another like little sparrows but really pooing on your heads when you aren't noticing.

These are often some of the most eloquent folks - highly articulate but empty hearted. It is mostly a feel-good session when they gather. Wordplay turns into merry singsong, and glides on to aphorisms dish out in spades and you don't really need them. They do it all the time, those. Singing praises for no reason.

How did they do it? Selfishness and self-gratification seems likely. Selfishness, for more room in a car. Self-gratification, for basking longer in the limelight, or simply the 'Look at me!' sort of thing. It is vital that he or she gets to trumpet a new catchphrase, so if you are more of an original sort of person, they might not like you very much. They picked leftovers from others and reinvented it to make it 'The New Cool'.

It is nauseating when fawning is overdone on a new friend - who is socially and financially enviable - because the poor sod is merely another ticket to the Rich and Famous Club for the rich and famous wannabes. Admirable goal. The newly initiated sod of a friend will be showered with love and attention - it is servitude on their part really. A quote from a book by Ambrose Bierce to go along nicely:

'If servitude is a high honour," the Gentleman said, "it would be indecent for me to seek it; and if obtained by my own exertion it would be no honour.'

A friend's alternate take on servitude: 'They sa ka (carry balls) all the time.'

Either takes, servitude or sa ka, isn't much of an honourable activity. However, it is a make or break situation for the sa ka folks. I say, grab the bull by the balls, be the master not the slave.

*S, a friend who is still in denial of his guitar chops.