William Shakespeare - “Words are easy, like the wind; Faithful friends are hard to find.”
How many friends do you have? - not social media 'friends,' not work colleagues, not the casual acquaintances you bump into at other friends' parties, not the butcher who asks after the dogs and wonders if they would like a bit of marrow bone, not anyone whose name you sometimes forget, nor anyone whose partner you have never met. A real friend is someone who knows you inside out, who allows you to be an ass at times and doesn't care, who argues against you but never stops loving you, and who is there to listen when you need to be heard. Humans can be fickle and they change as they age, and with change and passing time, friends come and go. This is put rather better by Alexander McCall Smith - "You can go through life and make new friends every year - every month practically - but there was never any substitute for those friendships of childhood that survive into adult years. Those are the ones in which we are bound to one another with hoops of steel.”
True friends don't stray. They are the ones that stay. Samuel Coleridge knew this and in 1830 he wrote - "The one absolutely unselfish friend that man can have in this selfish world, the one that never deserts him, the one that never proves ungrateful or treacherous, is his dog."
Maybe Coleridge had fickle friends and a faithful dog. Or maybe he was referring to something he had read - Voltaire perhaps, who in 1764, had written - "It seems that nature has given the dog to man for his defence and for his pleasure. Of all the animals it is the most faithful : it is the best friend man can have."
Which is so very nearly the phrase that everyone knows. The phrase that has become a cliché - succinct, overused but perfect. Voltaire used too many words and the best friend man can have became instantly unmemorable. Senator Vest of Missouri, on the other hand, strode into linguistic history when in 1870 he passed judgement on a dispute in which a dog had been shot and closed his speech with, "A man’s best friend is his dog.”
Man's best friend? I'd argue for woman's too.
We are fortunate: we that call both man and beast friends.
Bertie Baggins and Four-legged-friend are my constant shadows. And friends.
They wait for me at the bottom of the stairs. They are standing at the door when I get home. They sit on my feet when I'm reading the paper.
They complain a lot when they think I'm late with their dinner. But they never answer back. And they don't sit at the piano with their head in their hands (or paws) and tell me that they'll play if I make them a hot chocolate.
They listen; are constant in their affection; constant in their faith in me and constant in their protectiveness. A.A. Milne captures this constancy very well - "We'll be Friends Forever, won't we, Pooh?' asked Piglet. 'Even longer,' Pooh answered.”
And he put these words into Christopher Robin's mouth - “If ever there is tomorrow when we're not together... there is something you must always remember. You are braver than you believe, stronger than you seem, and smarter than you think. But the most important thing is, even if we're apart... I'll always be with you.”
Like Pooh and Piglet, Bertie Baggins and Four-legged-friend are best friends. With each other.
Only a very close friend would wake you from a sunny afternoon doze by chewing your ear
And only a very, very good friend would let you chew his ear without snapping back.
Best friends share experiences - the good times ...
and the bad. “When you're in jail," said Groucho Marx, "a good friend will be trying to bail you out. A best friend will be in the cell next to you saying, 'Damn, that was fun'.” Fun being the pizza Bertie Baggins had taken a bite out of as it was being placed into the oven - not a good moment for dog-human diplomatic relations!
A friend will let you share his marrow bone
And accompany you on walks. “Don't walk behind me; I may not lead. Don't walk in front of me; I may not follow. Just walk beside me and be my friend.” - Albert Camus.
Warning of another beautiful cliché: Eleanor Roosevelt - “Many people will walk in and out of your life, but only true friends will leave footprints in your heart.” Or paw prints in the case of this pair -
I couldn't resist a few more friend related quotes:
Hellaire Belloc - "There's nothing worth ... winning, But laughter and the love of friends."
John Lennon - “Count your age by friends, not years. Count your life by smiles, not tears.”
Walking the dog will continue to muse on friends and to walk with friends and to feast with friends. Definitely with them. Not on them. Although I am quite safe because I don't know him, I wouldn't wish to fall out with Jonny Depp who said, “If someone were to harm my family or a friend or somebody I love, I would eat them. I might end up in jail for 500 years, but I would eat them.”
On reflection, he is not saying that he would eat a friend but instead he is declaring his love for his friends. In a cannibalistic sort of a way.
I'd probably just slap them.
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