In your next life, you get to choose your best friend.

[saltpoint]

I mean, among anyone in the universe, past or present. Would you choose:

An old flame from school days? A rock'n'roll legend?

A political reformer? A social revolutionary?

A fashion model? A midwife?

Lou Reed? Cleopatra? Buddy Hackett?

The guy who first fired on Fort Sumpter?

A fictional character from an honored novel?

Gospel author Mark?

Linda Tripp?

A poet, a powder monkey, a gardener, a sailor, a scientist, an actor, a Medici, a magician, a miller, a monk?

In your next life, who's your best pal?

[Phentex]

1. The same one I have now: my sister

awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

[saltpoint]

2. Nothin' wrong with that.

If your sister is a true blue friend, more power to her, I say.

[Lavender Brown]

52. Same here

[trebizond]

3. Mr T or the dog from littlest hobo

that would be so cool

[saltpoint]

5. I like your dog idea the best, but I admit that Mr. T has --

-- major charisma.

You got two good choices on your hands there, trebizond.

[VelmaD]

4. Well, I think I'll keep the two I have now...

they're both pretty good best friends.

[saltpoint]

6. Well, if that isn't an endorsement of good friends, then --

-- I don't think there is one.

What a good things to say about one's current pals.

[Joe Chi Minh]

41. I'll second that.

After some thought, I realised I'd be hard pressed to meet better friends than I've had in my life.

I had great mates at school, in the army and have met some of the most marvellous people since I've been in Scotland (25 years - longer than anywhere else), most but not all, during hospital stays, and consequently for just brief periods. There were some tremendously kind nurses and doctors, too. Though hospitals are like the world at large, in that health-service workers cover the whole spectrum from the extremes of saints to psycopaths.

We even have a kind of special guardian-angel, self-employed garage man, (a dead ringer for Robert De Niro), who fixes our car when the battery's flat and now we're on our uppers more than ever, won't accept payment. Last time we got our heap back, he'd fixed the handbrake release-button and tightened the steering.

[two gun sid]

7. Martin McGuinness.

[saltpoint]

8. Hi, two gun sid. Do you mean the Martin McGuinness of --

-- Sinn Fein fame?

That's a bold choice. I have serious Irish blood from one side, and just wondered if your McGuinness was the one from Sinn Fein?

[two gun sid]

9. Yes. I respect him greatly....

He has made the transition from CO of the Derry Brigade of the 'Ra to Republican Leader and Statesman.


Eamonn McCann "For Martin and other Republicans this is a war and in a war people suffer. As a supporter of the republican movement he is surrounded by people who have inflicted grief.But I have no doubt Martin McGuinness would be distressed by the death of civilians."


<edited to add quote>

[saltpoint]

12. I was the lucky beneficiary of a couple teachers who were --

-- experts in the history of Ireland. I'm afraid I'm lost in the Emerald Isle as a result, but very happily so.

I heard a BBC report on the radio recently about perceptions of Sinn Fein recently. Of course the British voices were not so kind, but the Irish voices were quite different.

This may not appeal to you, but there is a wonderful novel called AT SWIM, TWO BOYS by Jamie O'Neill, which tells a (gay) love story around the Easter Uprising. The spirit of it is close to contemporary respect for Sinn Fein in Ireland.

[two gun sid]

24. Thank-you for the tip....

I'm not much of a novel reader but, I'll give this book a try. I enjoy anything about the Easter Rising.


"The people they all dream
of an Ireland free and green
where no where can be heard the battle cry.
The fighting's gone too long
and it just drags on and on.
I'd like to know some peace before I die."

---Free and Green

[saltpoint]

28. Very nice poem, by the way.

I got to hear Seamus Heany recently -- the Irish Nobel Lauriat in Literature. Many of his poems are difficult to read, I think, but he is steeped in the tragedy and passion of the IRA conflict.

I'm not at all anti-British but I am very pro-Irish literature. Yeats knocks me out. He just knocks me out.

I'm yet to go to Ireland, but it is high on my list. Got to get there before I'm too stiff to move.

[Snap]

37. "... that I am blessed and can bless."

I liked Heaneys' Beowulf alot.

[saltpoint]

39. Who do I talk to to arrange that in my next life, Seamus Heaney --

-- is my father?

Embarrassed to say I haven't read his Beowulf yet but plan to get to it. The early poems are so sublime. I just love that guy.

[Joe Chi Minh]

43. You're not the only one

to respect him by any means, of course, two gun sid.

In TV programmes about the troubles, they often show a clip of film of him in the back seat of a police car - front on, so presumably covert. He would have been about 18 then, I think, and the head of the Derry brigade, but the fact that they did so and the commentary suggested that the enemy security-forces feared him, if they did not respect him with affection.

A colonel of one of the regiments over there who had dealings with him at, at least, one juncture - I think, in terms of negotiations - spoke of his admiration for his intellect. In fact, he said he felt that during their negotiations, it was as if was in the presence of someone of the calibre of a brigadier! Quite an accolade for an 18-year old leader of an insurgent brigade, not academically educated, defying the full panoply of the British state.

As well as the psycopaths among the paramilitaries, there were some individual leaders on both sides whom I found immensely impressive as human beings.

The people in that historical maelstrom I despise are the die-hard, "respectable", Unionist political leaders, who have never stopped fighting against the peace-process, yet contemptuously disparage the paramilitaries they were always inciting to violence, albeit by cunning indirection.

The fact is that both sets of paramilitaries might just as easily have fought for the other side, but for accident of birth, and I think the good ones came to realise it and grow in mutual respect for each other and each other's community.

[two gun sid]

44. When he speaks, people listen....

he tells the truth and he has the street cred that the younger Volunteers respect.

You're right about individual leaders from both sides being impressive. I was never more impressed by a Unionist than I was by Gusty Spence. I actually trust him.

All that being said, let's hope the Peace Process is put back on track. The day of the gunman is over.

[Joe Chi Minh]

46. Funny, I was thinking

of Gusty, too. A "giant" of a man by any reckoning.

Also, Irving comes across as an impressive person. I loved his droll sense of humour, when he described his exasperation at his repeated questioning by Gusty as to what he was in the Maze for!

And that Glen character, who led the strike in Belfast many years ago. Did you hear his description of an unsolicited visit from Paisley to a meeting they were holding - when Paisley wouldn't move from his (Glenn's) seat? Very funny.

[two gun sid]

49. It would seem that the men and women....

who are able to laugh and find common ground are also the the ones who know the actual cost of "The Troubles".

I could live with an agreement hammered out by McGuinness and Spence. Yup, put 'em in a room with a bottle of Bushmill's and Jameson's and what ever they decide, fine by me.

I've never read the story about the Paisley visit. I'll have to look it up.

[Joe Chi Minh]

53. Glenn Barr, his name was, 2-gun.

He was the leader, I believe, of a group of Unionist "activists", shall we say?

They were going to hold a meeting at a certain venue, and Glenn told the men at the door, on no account to let Paisley in, if he turned up.

However, Paisley being Paisley, he barged his way in, despite the lads' remonstrations, and immediately sat down in Glenn Barr's seat at the head of the table. Barr told him to take another seat, but Paisely insisted he had.. well... "a bone in his leg", shall we say...
Some kind of affliction that made it impossible for him to get up now he was seated, and take a seat further down the table.

Whereupon Barr quietly gave instructions for two of his stalwarts to crouch each side of Paisley's chair, and bodily lift up both him and the chair he was still seated in further down the table; which, of course, they duly did.

He should have remembered Christ's parable about not taking the first seat at a banquet...., where the host humiliates him before the other guests by enjoining him: "Move further down the table, so that my good friend here can seat close to me", or words to that effect!

[bridgit]

10. "a Medici"...now there's an artist's friend

but hubby & i, we've already talked about it = we're sticking together; we're going to treat the citizenry in our new cosmos with the utmost respect and bring them cookies & cash bonus' in the fields before we send them off to university.

[saltpoint]

13. Sounds like a darned fair policy.

And as for the Medicis, we could use a lot more of them in the contemporary world.

If Enron had just diverted some of those profits to museums, symphonies, and kids' band uniforms...

[bridgit]

19. you bet'cha...

:hi:

[Mojambo]

11. I'm going to go contemporary

and pick David Cross.

(edit for typo)

[saltpoint]

15. Contemporary's good. You're among friends.

I'm not as contemporary as many DUers but I make occasional forays...

thanks!

[samplegirl]

14. My Mechanic

I cant help it! Yesterday marked 9 years i've known him and im
still in love with him. Hes my best friend, confident, & love
of my life. I wouldnt want to be in any life without him.

[saltpoint]

16. If a good mechanic is also a good friend --

-- then by god you are gonna GO places.

Congratulations!

[samplegirl]

25. LMAO!!!!!

Hurts my motor to go so slow!

[saltpoint]

26. Is that from JT's "Traffic Jam"?

You are on a hot streak!

[samplegirl]

32. Beep beep & beep beep

yeah!

[hyphenate]

17. I've been very lucky

I've had "best friends" all my life, and I've known them all for most of my life, or at least very long periods of time. One of my best friends passed away almost two years ago, and I knew her for 22 years. My other best friend and I have been friends for 20 years. And an ex-boyfriend and I have stayed friends (off and on) since 1976.

I think in another life, karma would bring me back together with the ones I love the most and already cherish.

[saltpoint]

18. Boy, I have to agree that some very fine karma is already at work.

You folks hold onto each other, no matter what, hear?

All good wishes to what sounds like a very good thing.

[HEyHEY]

20. I couldn't ask for a better best friend than I have now

So, I'd go with the same.... best bud's since the age of 3

[saltpoint]

22. Best pals since age 3 !?!

THAT is a life-long friend, HeyHey. Not so many of those in the world. A rare and lovely thing.

Hat's off to ya.

[Rowdyboy]

21. I know its syrupy sweet, but I too would choose my current best friend...

He's my partner, my better half, and a wonderful man. We know each other inside out, I trust him implicitly, and either of us would do anything for the other.

Warned you it was going to be syrupy. He's out of town tonight and I miss him....

[saltpoint]

23. I don't see a damn thing syrupy about it and I salute you both.

If I knew where he was, I'd send him the post you just wrote as a signal-message that a very essential heart awaits his return and that a fierce loyalty defines the imminent welcome.

Damn fine sentiment if you ask me.

[Rowdyboy]

27. Thanks.....

After 16 years together we pretty much can anticipate each others moods and needs. I always wanted a best friend I could sleep with and I'll be damned if that isn't what I wound up with. Sometimes, life is good.

[saltpoint]

29. Well, keep up the very good work, rowdyboy.

More power to you both.

[FuzzySlippers]

30. I think Jane Austen

would make a very amusing chum.

[saltpoint]

31. I think you're right. A good choice.

Jane Austen is finally getting the praise and recognition she deserves in American graduate schools.

It's high time and well-deserved.

[The Flaming Red Head]

33. The same best friend that I've had for all of this life

If you've got the very best why change?

[saltpoint]

34. Hi, FRH. Well, sure. Your policy is being borne out --

-- by many of the posters in this thread.

Folks seem to have a good thing goin' and want to keep hold of it.

I'm all for it.

[Snap]

35. One who out lives me,

When this one dies, my heart will be broken

[saltpoint]

36. Very beautiful, snap.

You are only using a few words, but they are very much the right words.

Very nice.

[tjwmason]

38. Aristotle, or maybe Thomas Aquinas

Two stunning minds in the field of political philosophy.

They'd have to be the sort of best-friend who does not get irritated with me though, otherwise my complete stupidity (at least next to them) would drive them wild.

I'm just thinking of a dinner party with them present, several empty bottles of wine dotted around the room, and flowing erudite conversation.

[saltpoint]

40. I may have to crash that party with the wine and the --

-- conversation, tjwmason. I'll just happen to drop by to borrow a cup of sugar or something...

Aristotle was said to be a bit of a fuddy-duddy on some things, but even so, I think you've chosen well. No reason you can't have two best friends, and these two guys sound like good choices to me.

[xmas74]

42. My best friend right now.

Who else could handle my neurotic episodes?

[saltpoint]

45. I can't imagine a stronger endorsement of a friend --

-- than the one you just gave to your friend from THIS lifetime.

All good wishes to you both, xmas74.

[xmas74]

50. Thank you.

Of course, she might have a different answer.

[peacefreak]

47. I have to agree, the same friend I have now.

I've known her for over 30 years--since we were little hippie chicks.
I hope we'll be together on the porch of some (very cool) retirement home passing a j.:hippie: :smoke: :hippie:
I would be glad to share the next life with her, too.

[AlCzervik]

48. same here, 25 years as best friends, couldn't ask for a better one

[saltpoint]

51. I haven't voted yet, so I'll go with --

-- Julian, Emperor of Rome.

Would that he had been better heard.

[tigereye]

54. interesting

I'd pick my husband. He's still my best friends after almost 25 years.

[saltpoint]

60. But what if in another life your husband WAS --

-- the Emperor Julian?

What can we do then?

[tigereye]

66. hmmm

I guess I would want to be the Empress, then. I also suppose he could come back as someone or something totally reprehensible, and then where would I be? :)

or did that particular Emperor make a habit of offing his Empresses?

[saltpoint]

68. No, I think you're on safe ground with a good choice.

Well, actually that's your second good choice of the thread.

A thumbs up to you and yours, tigereye.

[Worst Username Ever]

55. Me.

I believe we'd get along smashingly.

[saltpoint]

62. Ok. Sounds reasonable to me.

(Love the Teddy Roosevelt sig line, by the way.)

[VOX]

56. Gregory Peck. Maybe not the most offbeat choice, but a safe bet.

He was/is, by all accounts, very liberal, well-liked by all, even-tempered, and a true gentleman.

Edited to add second choice: William Powell. As one critic wrote, "He is to dialog what Fred Astaire is to dancing." You'd also have to drink a bit to keep up with him.

[saltpoint]

63. Wow. You would be the envy of many if Mr. Peck were --

-- your best pal.

He was all you say he was.

And I miss him.

[skygazer]

57. The same best friend I have right now

And had in the last life, and the life before that, and the life before that.

I've known him for centuries, longer than anyone. How do I know that? I just do. Since the day I met him (this time around) in 1993, we've been the best of friends. We talk in shorthand because we don't need to use the longer versions - we automatically understand each other.

Sometimes, I'll get an urge to talk to him, so strong that I have to stop whatever I'm doing and pick up the phone. Last time it happened, his dad had had a stroke the night before and he needed someone to talk to. We've had that happen many times, both ways. It's a comfort.

I live in California. He lives in Vermont. Even so, if I needed him, he would be here, no questions asked and vice versa. He is the only person I trust completely, the only person I can talk to about anything at all.

Why would I switch best friends? I have the BEST best friend I could ever ask for.

[saltpoint]

64. Skygazer, this is more than a testament to friendship.

It's almost a MOVIE, or a short story -- a narrative of some sort -- and it's awfully lucky for you to be in this situation.

Good for you and your friend in Vermont. No reason to doubt that you ad this person have crossed paths in other times, in other places.

How exciting.

And how very good.

[Rabrrrrrr]

58. King David of Biblical fame would be quite interesting

[saltpoint]

61. Quite a dynamic choice. I agree.

A star of history, at least for me. Really feel drawn to David.

Good choice!

[flamingyouth]

59. I would choose my best friend and love from this life

There's no way I could improve on Neil. :)

[saltpoint]

65. Hi, FlamingYouth. I hope you and Neil will accept --

-- all good wishes and by all means keep smashing imperialism!

(Thanks for posting.)

[Fenris]

67. ...

:loveya:

The same goes for thee, love.