Wednesday, June 5, 2013

open letter


It amazes me the extent to which people of my age go to purposely surround themselves with other people who agree with them one hundred percent of the time.

I would hate this kind of existence.  By definition it would involve solely on going thru motions and nothing more. Experimentation would be impossible: it could encourage evolution.  In conclusion: change is bad because we all already agree with each other, right?

I learned years ago that intelligent people who don't always see eye to eye are the best company.  In college one such friend, in particular, really affected me. Not a month, maybe not even a week goes by that I don't smile at those days in New Orleans...  We both loved music.  We both loved the same blues and classic rock, but we bonded over the country and folk music he showed me, and the jazz I showed  him.  We took each other to concerts with whoever we were dating at the time.  One would buy tickets the other would buy the beer.  I saw Jerry Jeff Walker, he saw Astral Project... I saw Robert Earl, he saw Earl King...  When things got rough we had each others back: We drove the other one home when someone was too drunk to drive (usually him).  We let the other one crash in the living room when someone was too high to sleep (usually me).

We still speak occasionally.  Bi-annually our words amount to a fraction of what they were a dozen years ago.  They are typed instead of yelled over vinyl we were convincing ourselves is in better condition than it actually was.

He is the finest man I have ever met, the truest friend I have ever had and I regret the years we spent out of touch... 

... you bastard.