: Understanding The Difference Between Old and New Friends

Understanding The Difference Between Old and New Friends

by Rob Kall, OpEdNews.com May 15, 2003

"A false friend and a shadow attend only while the sun shines."
Benjamin Franklin

I've figured out one thing about George W. He's no traditionalist. Conservative though he may call himself, he fails on one count. Conservatives value their assets. They value the connections they inherit. This is the wisdom of old money. Ah, but smirking George didn't inherit his. He had it transfused to him from shady, shadowy sources that look they were liked to the Bin Laden family. It came in the form of overpayments on undervalued, losing operations. Hey, isn't that what Iraq has turned out to be. Big promises of cleaning up WMDs, of providing democracy... and what do we get? Zilch, Bubkas, Gornisht-- a big zero any way you spell it.

Okay, so there are plenty of nouveau riche-- people who come from blue collar or simple beginnings who strike it rich. But, oh no, that's not the case for George either. He grew up rich and powerful. Hhe can't fall back on that excuse. That leaves the conclusion that he's an insufferably irresponsible, cavalier playboy, who's "juice" comes power and money, not women, (like most republicans who achieve higher office. How would dear Senator Santorum interpret lust for money and power on his sodomist cosmology? I mean, is a hard-on for money more or less despicable that one for a person of the same sex, or a dog, to borrow from Santorums level of thinking?)

There's one thing that I wish Georgie'd learned from his Daddy-- to value the friends you inherit. As president, Bushie inherited an incredible collection of trusted, reliable friends who have proven their mettle with blood and sacrifice. These are old friends. You can't create old friends. Only time can bless you with them. But Georgie, the profligate rapist of nations, destroyer of democracies and freedoms (sounds a bit like Gilgamesh) is a boy who goes his own way.

Forget that the president has a responsibility to husband, protect and preserve the nations resources, forget that our friendships go back scores or hundreds of years. George is playing a game where he starts from scratch. He makes friends with Spain, and England, Poland and Kuwait. Forget about the rest of Europe, about our next door neighbors, Canada and Mexico. Forget about Japan and South Korea. They don't play with an oval shaped football. They don't talk the Texas talk. They're not good 'ol boys who will suck up to Georgie, kiss his butt and swear allegiance to him. After all, it's his ball-- the globe, that is.

If a scion-- a son or daughter of a wealthy, old-money family-- ever threw away long established, generations old friendships and alliances-- with true, supportive, loyal friends-- it's very likely that child would be disinherited, or written into a lesser roll in the inheritance and the transfer of power from one generation to the next. Such wanton, irresponsible behavior is not the sign of a person who bears the responsiblities of a great family, let alone a great nation. Bush has failed miserably at taking the reins of our nation, of the leadership of the free world. He acts more like a spoiled, self-centered, weak-willed overgrown teenager who selfishly does things out of self-interest alone, who makes decision to influence the false friends he seeks to acquire-- friends who are selfish and self-centered like him. These new friends, new allies, can never replace the old, newly abandoned friends, who, like fine wines, take a long time to age and reach maturity. Many of these friends are no friends at all, but inhuman corporations that pretend to offer the trappings of friendship.

"A good friend who points out mistakes and imperfections and rebukes evil is to be respected as if he reveals a secret of hidden treasure."
Buddha

And that's where the US stands today-- Towering over the rest of the world, old allies and friends thrown aside like old friends in a teenage comedy where the suddenly cool teen becomes shallow and foolish, leaving geeky or nerdy friends who really care for the cool, shallow in-crowd. In those B-movies, the protagonist usually encounters his comeuppance, which puts sense back into his or her head and the wisdom to go back to old friends who have not given up on him.

"A friend you have to buy won't be worth what you pay for him."
George D. Prentice (1802 - 1870) US newspaperman, editor, poet

I fear that Georgie, since he probably never had real close personal friends (who could trust a smirk like his?) will never be able to go back to those old friends of our nation. He will, as he has been doing, dally with new friends as he uses them and they use him, then dump them and move on to new shallow, parasites. But it is our nation that is becoming infested with these parasites. Our nation that is suffering with the bites, the swelling the hives, the irritation Georgie's infestuous friends plague upon us. Take his rich friends who will benefit from this tax thievery. They are like tape worms that live in a victim's stomach until they kill him. A handful of people will reap billions from this tax break. His latest friends... But they sure aren't friends of the USA. George doesn't play for the US team. He has his own. Karl and Condi, Dick and maybe Colin,and maayybe.... Saddam and Osama.

Too bad George the head cheerleader, now the world's most successful cheerleader, has the team he's rooting confused. It's America you should be rooting for George, not whatever idea you have of a team you're working with. Then again. The team you sold was a loser. And your sale was a sleazy deal anyway. Maybe it's unfair of us to expect you to do the right thing. Maybe this is really just a B movie, or a bad dream. Yeah. That's it. I'll be waking up any moment now. It'll be time to go to class. There'll be bullies and the in-crowd and there'll be George, strutting in his cool clothes, after pulling up in his new Vette that Daddy bought him. And he'll have all those cool friends... And... who's that crying. That girl he got pregnant? That kid he got drunk with who didn't have a rich Daddy to bail him out, that dealer he got his coke from... that nerd he teased.... Bahhh. He's a shallow a**hole. What kind of life will he ever lead?

Rob Kall rob@opednews.com is publisher of progressive news and opinion website www.opednews.com and organizer of cutting edge meetings that bring together world leaders, such as the Winter Brain Meeting and the StoryCon Summit Meeting on the Art, Science and Application of Story This article is copyright by Rob Kall, but permission is granted for reprint in print, email, blog, or web media so long as this credit is attached.

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