Friendships

"Friendship is born at the moment when one person says to the other, 'what! you too? I thought I was the only one"

-CS Lewis

And a special HappyUP!!! - to Susan Ariel Rainbow Kennedy (SARK) on her new book, Fabulous Frienship Festival. I just picked it up at the psyber encouragement of my friend, McNair.

I was reading SARK - long before my acquaintance with McNair. I am sure that I would have come across this book eventually. Friends have many benefits. One is that they can be your scout out there. Who knows how long I would have been deprived of this latest treasure.

CS Lewis was a genius - I think this is beyond my belief. For those that know of him, I think it has pretty much been accepted as fact. Let's look at that quoted above. You read it. You have never thought about that before. Yet, the second you read that quote, internalize it, think about it, create a situation where this has happened, you know exactly what he is talking about. To yourself, you exclaim...

That's it! - and it is, isn't it? Perhaps one of the HappyUP!!!s in life, in fact one of the largest, is the constant discovery of the people that make us feel less alone. Our best friend may not even be THIS kind of friend. My best friend and I often think very differently. He is not likely to say something where I go..."wow, I thought it was just me."

Yet, as I lunch with people - that are not as close as him, I will share something that maybe others just aren't willing to share. You watch their eyes light up. You know that they have the same "dis-ease" as you do. You just cured it. Friends like this, through their own actions, allow you to be OK with those things within yourself that you may have thought, "good" people don't think or do things like this.

Of course, I am not talking about violating laws and other's rights - though peer pressure can drive one there. Those aren't friends. Those are manipulators because you didn't feel like they did originally. Yet, you liked them. They then used their friendship that you have come to cherish as a bargaining tool. "You want to keep my friendship...you have to do what I do." That's not friendship. That's a transaction.

No...when you find that person - with more than the sympathetic ear but with the synonymous belief, it's a HappyUP!!!

Hope you come across a new one - soon. Until then, you have my permission to be who you are.