Forever

Best Friends Forever. Today we invoke discussion into the fabled, the legendary, the commonplace term of 'best friends forever.' Simply put, this term is unrealistic, childish, and fairy tale. Now one might read this and say, well, "Jerome, you're just writing this because you've been bitten by this once before and you're bitter." I don't think so, but we'll see. It goes a bit deeper than this. Stay tuned, or go back to whatever you were doing.

Let's go back, back to the olden days. Elementary school. High school even. Two friends decide they have pretty good rapport and spend all their time together (this is usually same gender). They come up with the label Best Friends Forever. This label comes in many forms. I have heard the simple "BFF," the dreamy "biffle," and a few others. At the outset this is just a schoolkid's hopeful term for a close friend that they want to keep forever. But what happens years down the road, after high school, after college, after entering the real world? Does that label persist?

I find that the label tends to put an expectation on a person. They can't ever break from the 'forever' contract they made as a wee child. But let's look at this through a different lens. A lens of faith. What does forever mean in that context? Forever, eternity, an infinite God, these are all concepts that can only come under God. The only other forever concept that I can think of is the sacrament of marriage. And even that comes under God, as man and wife are united to one flesh, holy matrimony, you know the deal.

Going back from that brief foray into matters of faith, what is it to be best friends forever? I consider it vanity. Best friends is something that can be understood, stood by because it is a proof of fact. Adding time signatures to words isn't in humanity's best interest. After all, what can be accomplished in a world that will pass away? There are no lifetime warranties that can touch you save the one Christ gives.

Perhaps this has been more of an attack on 'forever', with some subtext of friendships that last that long. Perhaps it has the tinge of personal involvement. Perhaps it is just another ramble on just another day. One thing I know for sure is that I deliberately thought about this before writing it, and for better or for worse, it's now in writing.