Several years back, I had a boss that liked to wax eloquent on any number of topics while discussing business. He was a bit older that the rest of us, with loads more life experience. He had worked for many years on a ranch and on the road resulting in a sharp, if not a little verbose, view on life. Most of the meetings had a tendency to go off on quite a few tangents, and last quite a bit longer than scheduled, but if you listened right, (or were listening at all), you always came away with a little bit of wisdom. A sort of rodeo-yoda, you could say. During one meeting, while discussing the nature of friendship and loyalty, he mentioned a phrase that has stuck with me.


I won't go to Hell for you, but I'll go to Hell with you.


The idea that he was trying to stress was that friendship was something that was not to be easily given nor retracted, and that a friendship worth having was something to be treasured, worked at, defended etc. from both ends of the equation. I suppose that you could say that I am proud to say I have quite a few friendships that I value quite dearly. I have had friends that stood up for me, and even stood up to me, when the situation called for it. I know that there is quite a bit that I have/am/would be willing to do, for any of them, and always figured that the feeling was mutual.

Recently, during a conversation with a couple of buddies, I mentioned plans for my future, and what measure of preparations it would entail in the present. With not much more information that just general ballpark figures, a couple of them offered up what basically comes up to a several thousand dollar loan with no immediately definite pay-back date. All they knew was that if I had the need and they had the means, it was a done deal as far as they were concerned. It was an offer that I had given out myself on the rare occasion, but until now I have not had the opportunity to reflect on what it meant to be on the receiving end. Powerful stuff, friendship.