Old Friends

I met an old school mate of mine yesterday. Mind you, she's not old. She's 21.
For me, meeting old friends is like eating my favourite dish that I haven't had for years. Upon tasting, my tastebud will taste nothing but stale metal and slowly, the sweet and sour of friendship will resurface. What I usually do (or prefer to do) is to share a few minutes of silence with them. For my close guy friends, I'll hug them for at least a whole minute but for girls, I'll drink a cup of coffee and stare at their faces.
I know a lot of people don't do this. They meet their old friends, talk talk talk talk and talk some more. They brag brag brag and stop bragging. They whine whine whine and they start appreciating. Not a single moment is spent just being quiet, enjoying the sheer company of each other and smile with absolutely no reason.
I wonder why.
I guess meeting up old friends for some people is a time to find out how themselves are progressing since god knows when. It's like seeing a progressometer to judge how the old friends are doing and compare their growth to yours. They might tell you that they ask and tell about each other's progress because time is short so they have make good use of their time with you and spill every details but in my frank opinion, friendship is so much more that trivial pursuits.
So much more than "I've been doing this...", "You know what?" and "And I was like.."
If human beings relate to each other with the money they have, the state of mind they're in and the life they're leading, humanity is just a big corporate organization with high ranking executives, senior managers, art directors, secretaries and domestic cleaners.

1 comment:

lubnaaa said...

Seconded, thirded, fourthed and fifthed on your last paragraph.

Sometimes I wonder if old friends from high school whom you've probably talked to maybe once, in a conversation YOU initiated, adds you on facebook just to see what you look like, what you're doing, where you are, whether you've gone on to great things, or whether you're the same loser you were in school.

And I hate that progressometer.

But I confess, when I get together with friends from school, we can't get a word in because it's been too long and there's this need to speed-update on each other in case we run out of time. And progressometers are banned. :)