Kablog2’s Weblog

It’s not everyday one loses a friend.

Today is one such.

Fresh from a week-long video training gig in the Visayas I finally got to read a letter sent to me by this (now former) friend.  It was about his long-running quarrel with an officemate that I previously said was out of our hands to mediate.  My reply this morning was more of the same.

Within minutes of sending my second reply I received a riposte from the guy saying our office’s decision was gravely mistaken.  His anger was as obvious as my beer gut—huge.  He also wrote we need not be friends anymore.

I again wrote to him it was his decision and that I wish him luck.  His reply was: “There’s nothing to talk about anymore!!!”  (Note the three exclamation points!)

Now, this guy I admired very much.  His name is in the legal and human rights books when he went up against Martial Law’s main bowwow, now Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile.  He is also a major poet, which was why I became friends with him in the first place.  I am also ninong to one of his daughters and I am good friends with another daughter.

The stories this former friend bandies around about his number one enemy makes my close-cropped hair curl.  On the other hand, the things I heard about this former friend makes my close-cropped hair positively kinky.  What have they been doing in their past lives?

But that’s just it.  All these alleged things happened in a previous life.  Why should we be dragged into it?  Some other group has looked into it and has decided accordingly.  According to set processes and after judicious consideration of things, one was subsequently booted out of the organization and one remains to be in good standing.  Who am I to intervene, especially when I myself have doubts about a party’s intentions?

When I lose friends I sometimes ask myself if I was at fault.  This time I was surprised to realize I am not bothered at all.  In fact, this afternoon, I napped twice and then Pom and I went shopping.  Tonight, in lieu of dinner, I drank a couple of light beer while wolfing down a hundred pesos worth of isaw.  Suitably tipsy afterwards, I played with Panda.