First Friday

Moss and lichen

How important is friendship to you? Who are your friends? Can you make real friends after the age of 25?
I know that the only people I really feel at one with are people I grew up with. They are people I went to school with or people I went to college with. They seem to know me in a way no-one else can know me. I try to make friends with others but it seems false.
I went last night to the Inter-faith Forum. this is an organisation bringing together people of different faiths and none to hear about other faiths and beliefs. Last night they had a woman from the Christian Scientists. They seem to believe that if we realise that we are divine all illnesses or errors can be healed. Indeed they say that you cannot progress in their faith unless you heal other people. We listened last night to a woman who had been searchig all her life for an answer. She believes she has found it through the works of Mary Baker Eddy. I have yet to read the book given out freely last night.
She sounds like a 'scarf woman' - the term I give to post- menopausal woman who believe in fairies etc.
However there is something that resonates. Intelligence, I believe is 'divine'. Maybe intelligence is a loaded word - perhaps I mean 'self-consciousness'. This is something we share with all other humans. It is something special. Something which maybe ultimately seperate from the physical.
Today I listened to Dr Ian Paisley - the elder. He appeared at a 'Celebration of Age'
Like the rest of the panel - Sam McAughtry, May Blood, PJ McClean etc he was humourous and moving. He signed a copy of his book 'Grow Old with Me' for me.
Tonight - the first Friday of the month used to be a time I would go out with some old friends to a bar. We would talk, argue and drink. We haven't done this for some time. Tonight I went down alone to the John Hewitt Bar and watched curly headed women flirt with an open chested long-haired blonde guy - then watched the latter drink sadly alone. I listened to the Panama Jazz Band and thought of what I should be challenging myself to do. Set up an IVS workcamp and dive.
I'll leave you with the sub-text [takes a bit of time to load]to the coalition war effort in Iraq ( and yes I do feel for Tony with his heart complaint!)