Thoughts in 6 June 2016

First, read this:

Never Trust Anyone Who Hasn’t Been Punched In The Face 

...I think there is a certain worldview that comes from violent experience. It’s something like…manhood. You don’t have to be the world’s greatest badass to be a man, but you have to be willing to throw down when the time is right.

In a wide-ranging interview years ago I was asked for my definition of a "friend." A harder question than you might think — and this was before FB, which has certainly jumbled the definition of "friend" by reducing it to a pushbutton 'accept" or "reject."

I think it's a point to reflect on as we remember D-Day and the Greatest Generation's sacrifice. We as a country said, "This is cause worth dying for. We ask for your sacrifice to save us all." And they responded, and paid the blood price, for our freedom.

So what is a "friend?" A person who shares your secrets, listens to your whining and helps buttress your self-esteem? The guys (or girls) you share adult beverages with every Friday evening? Reasonable answers.

But not my answer. After consideration, I answered that a friend is the person who stands at my back. The interviewer, surprised, said, "Don't you think that's a little…extreme?"

But it wasn't extreme on that cold June morning 72 years ago. Ultimately all words like friendship, like loyalty, like patriotism, like love, must be backed up by deeds, or they are, indeed, just words. A generation of Americans understood that, and we honor them for it.

And we fear for our own future.

John 15:13 — "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

[PHOTO: Contrarian Traveler]