Friendships

A couple of posts ago I commented on the cyclical nature of friendships. My focus of the post was a friend of my wife's but my own friendships came to mind as well. A friend that has drifted in and out over the last several years moved in a couple of apartments down from me this last week. He is a friend, but one of the infrequent friends that seem to populate a work week and not weekend. He is recently divorced, the aftermath of which has left him in a one bedroom apartment in a sad older complex all alone.

Divorce scares me perhaps more than anything else. Its everywhere, and across racial / social divides. There is no segment of the population who are not touched. The Bible says that husband and wife are considered one flesh, one person, it follows that divorce is the murder of that person. Over the past couple of years I have seen the adaption from single to couple, and I can say that I am no longer the same person. I've wondered at divorce more now that I'm married than I did before, how does it work? How do you separate yourself from someone who has been flesh of your flesh? I would find it akin to deciding one day that I could no longer live with my right hand, and taking a hacksaw to it. When you wake up the morning after leaving your (w)(l)ife what part of you is left?

Amputees report still feeling as if their limbs were attached, a man I knew growing up who had lost his pinky said that the worst was when his missing pinky itched. Wouldn't life after divorce have the same sensation, the sense that its still there, but not there enough to actually touch.

My favorite part of Lord of the Rings is Gollum. If there was ever a character that represents sin and ugliness of humanity its him. He is eaten up with the love and hate for something that is torturing him, that has caused him infinite pain, and has driven him away from all he loves and cares for. Try as Gollum might he can never in and of himself be rid of the Ring (or evil), even as it sends him to a fiery abyss he cradles it in his arms and calls it "precious."

What sin in my life do I call "precious" that hurts me, and causes me to hurt others. What may drive others away, and divide me from everything I love and care for.

This pic is from the National Cathedral's door. I like finding subtle details to photograph. Of all the pics I took while being there this is my favorite, I like places where the closer the look the more you find, intricate I believe is the word.