I believe in the brotherhood of all men, but I don't believe in wasting brotherhood on anyone who doesn't want to practice it with me. Brotherhood is a two-way street.
Malcom X
I have three blood-brothers but they're spread throughout the world and none are close by where I live. We get a long generally although two of them are closer to me than the other. I guess being brothers by birth doesn't necessarily mean the human in us always has to get along or see eye to eye; I know this is the case with many people's siblings. In the main though, if we all get together in the same time and place, things go along smoothly. The last time we were all together was my thirtieth birthday. I share that day with my youngest brother's whose twenty first was on the same day. That was twenty one years ago, just before they disbursed around the world.
I miss my brothers, that bond we have, and I feel somewhat isolated. This is exacerbated by the fact I'm very selective with who I spend my time with preferring no company over poor company; I don't drop that standard often and only when there's no choice so I don't replace my brothers with other people...But I have other brothers.
I know a lot of people which may seem strange for someone so un-peopley I guess however for the last twenty years I've done a job that caused me to meet and engage with more people than I could count and some have stuck. Acquaintances. I've got friends too, a small-by-choice group, and some of them get called brother, bro, brah, bruz and much, much worse. This group of *bro's goes way back into my past and come from a different group that the rest completely. It's one from this elite group I met today for a lunch-time burger.
I've known this chap since the early 1990's when we worked together doing some stuff and we have kept in contact despite, in the early 2000's, moving in different directions professionally. He stayed in my State though, albeit four hundred kilometres away from where I live, and when he's down from the north we catch up. That was today.
The plan was to catch up, tell loads of lies about the good old days then talk a little about crypto...Sort of the same as I'd do with any of my three blood-brothers.
My bro wanted to have Thai food but I pulled rank on him and said burgers. He called me an asshole but accepted that he wasn't getting his way. I was shouting [paying] so I called it and he could suck on it. You can see my burger in the image with a side of spicy-hot chickeny things that seemed like a good idea at the time.
We chatted about many things including a fellow we both know who has recently taken his own life, lied about our exploits back in the day and then turned the conversation to cryptocurrencies and hive.
I've not on-boarded many to hive nor shared the fact I write a blog with many people however I believe this fellow could do some really great things here so we spoke about that and I showed him what it's all about. We scanned through a few people's post-feeds and I showed him what to do and what not to do which is easier to do in person. He was pretty impressed with a few I followed and was particularly interested in a couple of communities: Cinnamon cup coffee, Urban exploration, The Pew: Guns and more and Haveyoubeenhere in particular. That's a good start I think and he's warming to the idea of having a try.
Beyond that we talked about cryptocurrencies and as he'd expressed an interest I showed him my situation, the exchanges I use and some of the general processes - the blind leading the blind - I know.
It was a productive burger and bullshit session and we both enjoyed the catch up a great deal. He got value from the crypto and blogging aspect and we both enjoyed the hang-out. It's these sorts of meetings that we, he and I both being non-peopley people, value. Easy-going and relaxed with no pretentiousness, no personal agenda and no need to impress the other. Again, it's much like a catch-up would go with any of my other brothers.
I'm not sure when all of my blood-brothers will be in the same room with me at the same time again as there's a lot of space in between our respective locations and with the pandemic-thing as it is I'd say it'll be a long time; with us all getting older possibly never. That's sad really but it's a potential reality. I have other bro's though and whilst they're different in many ways the respect, closeness and comfort is there nonetheless. All are valued.
I had a great couple hours with my bro today and look forward to the next, probably around Christmas time when he's back to see his family. I'm looking forward to it.
Now how about you? Do you have friends like this? Have a brother from another mother or sister from another mister? Do you have brothers and sisters close by and do you hang out a lot or do you rely on your close friends to fill that gap? What do y'all do when you hang out and would you tolerate one of them vetoing Thai food like I did today? Drop me a line and let me know if you feel inclined.
Design and create your ideal life, don't live it by default - Tomorrow isn't promised so be humble and kind
Discord: galenkp#9209
