Talked with some old friends of mine recently.
One bemoaned the constant fact that the slipping disc in his back turned lovemaking into a tortuous contortionist's nightmare.
Another wondered if there was ever such a thing as innocence or just plain, ordinary ignorance disguised as such.
A leader in his field asked when executive leaders are not responsible for the actions of their subordinates, reminding us he keeps a plaque on his desk that states, "The buck stops here (although my lawyers will argue otherwise because I pay them to)."
The sports fanatic in the group observed that guys on sports shows have to wear suits and ties while the women only have to wear clinging, tight, unbuttoned blouses - "What's up with that?" he jokingly asked us, mocking outrage.
The news buff asked if we had heard the rumour that Sarkozy prefers to hang out with journalists accused of paedophilia. The Francophobe in our group said he was not surprised.
We talked about the best camo colour combination for hunting in the woods and debated whether one should be able to wear camo clothing to Christmas parties.
I commented that one part of socioeconomic growth depends on groups and individuals seeking status and privilege in the form of goods and services they or their families were taught to dream of and/or were deprived of in the past - such behaviour can lead to abnormal trends on the macro scale - therefore, how do we teach people to dream of the big picture? "Dream on," replied one friend raucously, "most people are sheep, easily pacified to enjoy their fenced-in lives."
Every one of us brought forth a product idea that was in its infancy, seeking advice about synergistic solutions that any of the other of us could add to the product's development.
Of course, we have no nondisclosure agreement (NDA) between us - our friendship suffices to hold our confidences within the group (even when we are disclosing to one another products that our companies are developing under NDA).
We know the truth about life - secrecy is for those who don't have trustworthy friends; trustworthy friends are the ones who will share your secrets (including your personal, narrowminded views about life) when it serves the big picture.
It feels good to gather with friends like that once in a while so we can assure ourselves we're willing to put up with a lot of the negative, abusive bashing that pretends to be news in order to get our message out, no matter how much it's buried in the noise.
Many thanks today: Shawn B at Hickory Farms; Angie and Laura at See's Candies; Edson (sp?) at Cafe Berlin; the unknown helpful people at Madison Square Mall (J.C. Penney), Parkway Place Mall (Belk, Hat Shack, Sports Mania, Dillard's, SEC Apparel Co., and mall kiosks) and fossil fuel stations (Fuel City).
No comments:
Post a Comment