On my daily walks, I listen to audio books - a lot of them thanks to our well-stocked local library. For a long while, i listened to non-fiction, self-help type of books as well as books that teach you stuff like how startups work, or books by Simon Sinek that teach you to question the why, what and how of each task. Of late, due to the recent turmoil between the US and China, the works of Robert Kaplan has caught my eye although these are hardbound books and not audio books.
Anyway, I am meandering ... the reason for this post arose out of a scene from the famous book by Frank Herbert, Dune. BTW, I highly recommend this audio book. Even though I have read the book before, the audio book version has made the book much more magical for me. Now to the point ... in this scene, Paul Atreides walks into a room to find his friend, mentor and sword master, Gurney Halleck, threatening to kill his mother, the Lady Jessica due to a misunderstanding over who betrayed Leto Atreides, Paul's father. Paul clarifies that his mother did not betray her husband and that it was Dr. Yeuh who was the betrayer. Eventually Paul and his mother manage to convince Gurney who is then sick with shame over what he had done. He asks Paul to kill him for his grievous error in judgement and Paul is quick to chastise him on such thoughts and instantly forgives his friend who acted in loyalty to his father.
It got me thinking about real friendship and a thought entered into my consciousness. I am a person who doesn't have trouble making friends but I am a deeply private person and often have trouble asking for help or giving it for that matter. As a result, I have only but a couple of real friends who I am comfortable with - friends with whom I can share my deepest thoughts without fear of being judged or that information being used against me in the future. It got me thinking that I could not for the life of me, ever remember being angry with these friends. I cant even remember disagreeing with them in the past. The more I thought about that, it amazed me that it was possible to have friends who are in perfect sync with your own wavelength and with whom you can have no disagreements - at least non-trivial ones that you can remember. For a brief moment, I walked along a beaten path feeling a kind of enlightenment that only Paul Atreides could have felt but he had help from his Bene Gesserit mother's training and increased prescience by drinking the Water of Life!!
Anyway, I am meandering ... the reason for this post arose out of a scene from the famous book by Frank Herbert, Dune. BTW, I highly recommend this audio book. Even though I have read the book before, the audio book version has made the book much more magical for me. Now to the point ... in this scene, Paul Atreides walks into a room to find his friend, mentor and sword master, Gurney Halleck, threatening to kill his mother, the Lady Jessica due to a misunderstanding over who betrayed Leto Atreides, Paul's father. Paul clarifies that his mother did not betray her husband and that it was Dr. Yeuh who was the betrayer. Eventually Paul and his mother manage to convince Gurney who is then sick with shame over what he had done. He asks Paul to kill him for his grievous error in judgement and Paul is quick to chastise him on such thoughts and instantly forgives his friend who acted in loyalty to his father.
It got me thinking about real friendship and a thought entered into my consciousness. I am a person who doesn't have trouble making friends but I am a deeply private person and often have trouble asking for help or giving it for that matter. As a result, I have only but a couple of real friends who I am comfortable with - friends with whom I can share my deepest thoughts without fear of being judged or that information being used against me in the future. It got me thinking that I could not for the life of me, ever remember being angry with these friends. I cant even remember disagreeing with them in the past. The more I thought about that, it amazed me that it was possible to have friends who are in perfect sync with your own wavelength and with whom you can have no disagreements - at least non-trivial ones that you can remember. For a brief moment, I walked along a beaten path feeling a kind of enlightenment that only Paul Atreides could have felt but he had help from his Bene Gesserit mother's training and increased prescience by drinking the Water of Life!!
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