Wednesday, July 29, 2009

"Texas Friendship Day" (8-2-09) Ideas on How to Become or Remain a Personal Friend for Someone

As Texans throughout our state prepare to celebrate Texas Friendship Day on Sunday, August 2, 2009, I would like to offer a few suggestions on how you can protect your own credibility as a prospective or current friend for another person.

Official information about the 2009 "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132, authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on the final day of the regular session this year, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

The following are my personal suggestions on how you can help to convey to another person your own enthusiastic desire to either become or remain a mutual-consent personal friend for that individual:

(1) You might include that individual in your list of persons whom you invite to social parties you are hosting.

(2) You coud consistently return phone call messages from that individual.

(3) You could send prompt and polite reply messages in response to E-mail letters you receive from that individual.

(4) You might make a point of smiling while talking with that individual in person.

(5) You can strive to be helpful to that individual, such as by offering that person constructive and polite ideas or suggestions on how that person could improve his quality of life or his financial earnings capacity.

(6) You could express interest in the medical health of that individual, which conveys your devotion to that individual having the best possible medical health and medical longevity or lifespan.

(7) You can offer sincere and honest words of praise to that individual that refer to a variety of traits you admire that you have observed in that individual.

(8) You might invite that individual to breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

(9) You could inquire about that individual's favorite hobbies or pastimes. You can then keep that in mind if you ever happen to learn about a cultural event in town that relates to a favorite hobby or pastime of that individual. You can then share that information with that individual.

(10) You could refrain from using sarcasm or profanity, or from verbalizing threats, in your comments to or written communications addressed to that individual. This will convey a friendly style toward himself.

(11) You could pose questions to that individual which convey an interest in his values, beliefs, and his platonic (non-sexual) passions as a human being. If he adores the foreign nation of Sweden, for instance, you can ask him if he has identified a favorite Scandinavian-style dish from the menu offerings of any of the restaurants in your city or town or geographical area. If so, you could invite him to join you for a meal inside that restaurant.

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

"Texas Friendship Day" Revives Statewide Tradition of 1920s, 1930s, 1940s

The statewide "Texas Friendship Day" celebration this August revives and expands upon a people-friendly Texan tradition that was previously celebrated in early 20th Century Texas.

That annual tradition, known as a Texas "Friendship Day," was reportedly celebrated on March 7 of each year for several decades beginning in the 1920s.

The statewide "Texas Friendship Day" that was unanimously approved this year by the Texas House of Representatives has been scheduled by that governing body for Sunday, August 2, 2009. That Texas Friendship Day resolution, H.R. 3132, was authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes of Austin.

Official information about the 2009 "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

Information about the previous Texas "Friendship Day" tradition is contained in an official March 5, 1947, gubernatorial proclamation by Texas Governor Beauford Jester. In that proclamation, Governor Jester declared that Friendship Day in our state had been annually celebrated on March 7 for many years.

The content of Texas Governor Jester's proclamation was cited on July 28, 2009, and July 29, 2009, by a spokesman for the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.

Texas Governor Jester in his 1947 Texas "Friendship Day" proclamation reportedly praised Texan civic leader Eleanor Brackenridge of San Antonio for having initiated the annual statewide Texas Friendship Day idea on her 80th birthday in
1921.


It is not clear from historical archives when the statewide Texas "Friendship Day" tradition of the early and mid-20th Century was discontinued.

More information about that early 20th Century celebration of a "Friendship Day" or "Texas Friendship Day" in Texas can be obtained by contacting the Texas State Library and Archives Commission in Austin.

Monday, July 27, 2009

Texas Friendship Day (8-2-09) Reflection: My Own Pet Peeves About Personal Friends

"Texas Friendship Day," a statewide civic event that is scheduled for Sunday, August 2, 2009, poses a grand opportunity to each of you Texans of today.

Not only are you being invited by the Texas House of Representatives to reflect on which personal attributes and personality traits you DO want to see in personal friends of ours.

You are also being implicitly reminded by the Texas House of Representatives to reflect on which personal attributes you DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT TO SEE in a mutual-consent personal friend of yours.

More information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by you and your Texas House of Representatives colleagues on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

Among my own pet peeves about prospective new personal friends in my own life are:

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to pranks, "surprise parties," anonymous communications, fraudulent communications, lies, deliberate torture, or criminal mischief.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to deliberately subject me to what he knew at the time to be a false or fraudulent or trumped-up allegation or accusation against myself.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to non-stop, continuous, noise pollution on a multi-hour, multi-day, multi-year, or multi-decade basis.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to incessant or continuous noise pollution that is later determined by a first-rate ear, nose, and throat medical specialist whom I myself consult on a multi-year basis, to have inflicted a significant amount of permanent damage to my own hearing capacity and my own medical health.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who ever physically beats or physically whips myself or any other person, or who himself either condones or "supports" or knowingly permits or authorizes any such conduct.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who is physically violent toward others.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who repeatedly comes across as being either ungentlemanly or, if that individual is a woman, unladylike in that she is habitually abrasive and combative and ungracious and petty and humorless and vindictive.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever pursue actions or make comments indicating that he seeks to harm myself or anyone else.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to drive a motor vehicle after he becomes inebriated or intoxicated.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to condone or partly finance or wholly finance or support or knowingly participate in a planned snuff movie featuring the alleged planned murder or actual murder of myself or any other cited victim.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to withhold from me any factual evidence or hunches or impressions that friend ever has about which person or persons allegedly seek to harm me or injure me in Austin, Texas.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who expresses contempt for, antipathy toward, or defiance of law-enforcement officers or the law or the American legal system.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to criticize me incessantly and on a year-round basis.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who fails to ever once on any occasion offer honest and sincere and substantive words of praise and appreciation to myself, and, when referring to me while talking with others, about myself.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to repeatedly subject me to profane and vulgar and obscene language.

------I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to attempt to censor me or to censor me at any time.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to invite me to consume marijuana or any other illicit drug in any context.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to urge me or pressure me into consuming any illicit drug.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to talk with me incessantly or repeatedly about sex or sexuality or sexual identity or gender identity per se.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever urge me or pressure me into violating the law, or to ever order me to violate the law.

----I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever at any time subject me against my wishes to involuntary or unwitting consumption of marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever express anger toward me or disparage me or verbally abuse me because I myself lead a permanently illicit-drug-free, permanently alcohol-free, lifelong-tobacco-free, clean-talking, facially cleanshaven (no facial hair), tattoo-less, recently-certified-HIV-negative and recently-certified-STD-free, platonically polite, longtime celibate, honest, law-abiding, non-gambling, and crime-deterrence-minded lifestyle.

----I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who himself ever on any occasion consumes any marijuana or any other illicit drug at any time after he has reached age 30.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to attempt to brainwash myself or anyone else.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who supports or condones compelled relationships, arranged marriages, sadomasochism, or slavery.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to be someone who fails to honor the legal and Constitutional right of another human being to reject himself.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to subject me to repeated, incessant communications or repeated, incessant comments about individuals whom I have already rejected from my own life and life circumstances.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to exhibit a contempt for or defiance of my own or others' Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Mutual-Consent Association legal rights, or privacy rights.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to tell me that he favors complete solitude and isolation for me in my own life.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to indicate to me that there is no circumstance in which he would ever be willing to introduce me to any of his friends or relatives or his romantic partner.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to repeatedly state to me that he will call me back on the telephone, and then never call me back on the telephone.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to state to me that my ability to continue as a personal friend of his is contingent on my own socioeconomic status or my own income level or my own level of "intellectual attainment" or "intellectual aptitude" or or "intellectual development" or "intellect" or "intelligence quotient" or my own "cultural accomplishment" level being regarded by himself as "sufficient" or "high enough" or "adequate" or "impressive enough" to meet his own cited expectations.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to criticize or attempt to restrict or undermine or prohibit my own legal right to myself associate with any honest and law-abiding legal-status adult person whom I directly enjoy associating with in person and whom I myself directly choose to associate with in a mutual-consent context.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to pursue any conduct indicating to me that he is intolerant toward my own right to have political and religious and personal views and beliefs that differ dramatically from his own.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever say "Shut up!" to myself.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to slander me or libel me or subject me to character assassination on a frequent or habitual basis.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to make comments or pursue actions that repeatedly indicate that he fails to acknowledge that I am, in fact, honest, conscientious, friendly, consistently civil, and law-abiding.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to withhold from me evidence he has obtained that one person or group of persons, or one media company or another, has possibly libeled me or slandered me or victimized me through character assassination of myself.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to express defiance of my human and legal and Constitutional right to set my own priorities and set my own course in my own life.

---I DEFINITELY DO NOT WANT a personal friend of mine to ever state to me that if I myself choose to move to another city or U.S. state, or if I choose to lawfully emigrate to a foreign nation, that choice of mine automatically prevents him from continuing to be a personal friend of mine.

Saturday, July 25, 2009

In Search of a Ketchup Without High Fructose Corn Syrup

The other day I discovered that a bottle of Heinz Ketchup I recently purchased contains "high fructose corn syrup" as an ingredient.

That sobering discovery has prompted me to wonder if there is any reasonably priced ketchup available in the supermarket today that contains no high fructose corn syrup.

I have read in recent years that it is advisable to minimize consumption of high fructose corn syrup, and this reminds me that I also need to find out more about the medical basis for that advice.

One update on this: This Saturday, August 1, 2009, I was pleasantly surprised to note inside an H.E.B. supermarket in northwest Austin that the San Antonio-based H.E.B. supermarkets are now offering an H.E.B. brand of ketchup that contains no high fructose corn syrup. That is very good news for ketchup lovers such as myself.

At least one health-minded nationwide restaurant chain, the Beaumont, Texas-based Jason's Deli, has posted announcements on its dining tables that announce to all customers that Jason's Deli is nearing its goal of eliminating high fructose corn syrup from all Jason's Deli menu offerings and beverages.

Heinz Ketchup has long been a personal favorite of mine partly because my beloved mother several decades ago (and I forgot to ask Mother if that was in the 1950s or 1940s) won either first or second place in a nationwide "Why I Love Heinz Ketchup" essay contest.

Mother was awarded a free can opener from the Heinz corporation based on her essay, she modestly told me one day inside her kitchen. Mother added that this was the only contest she had ever won in her entire life. Looking back, I wish that Mother had received more recognition for her writing talents; but of course I am grateful to Heinz Ketchup Company of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, for having honored Mother for her skill at writing.

Lifestyle Tradition Idea: Follow Local or Statewide Calendar of Events Listings Available Online

Developing an effective strategy for keeping up with several of the various online calendar of events online "bulletin-board" services in Austin, Texas, can offer you numerous opportunities for cultural enrichment and continuing education on a year-round basis.

One such community-events calendar that I discovered this month during my lesiuretime is offered by the 24-hour-a-day Channel 8 News Station in Austin:
http://www.news8austin.com/content/community/neighborhood_news/

Another online calendar of events is offered by "The Austin Chronicle" weekly magazine in Austin, Texas:

http://www.austinchronicle.com/gyrobase/Calendar

An online calendar of events listings for entertainment events is offered by "The Daily Texan" online:
http://www.dailytexanonline.com/2.8460/calendar-1.1263009

Friday, July 24, 2009

WHAT TEXAS FRIENDSHIP DAY (8-2-09) DOES NOT MEAN OR IMPLY OR INVOLVE

I get the impression that some Texans regard the upcoming "Texas Friendship Day" on Sunday, August 2, 2009, as a day when they are somehow expected to like or love all other Texans.

I would like to take this opportunity to respond to that understandable perception or concern on the part of many Texans.

The "Texas Friendship Day" (H.R. 3132) resolution by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, makes no reference to any such expectation of liking or loving all other Texans.

Many law-abiding Texans, after all, are victimized by the felony crime of stalking perpetrated on them by one or more law-breaking Texans (often in a context involving anonymous or profane communications or verbalized death threats or noise pollution knowingly and deliberately and ruthlessly inflicted on the victim) in an outrageously injurious and intrusive manner. It would be hideously perverse and outrageously immoral and unconscionable for any chamber of the Texas Legislature in Austin to expect the Texan victims of stalking on Texas Friendship Day to express "appreciation" or "affection" or "admiration" or "affinity" for any of the criminal persons who subjected those law-abiding Texans to stalking against their wishes.

Those law-abiding Texans, for personal safety reasons and moral reasons and legal reasons, will of course choose to exclude any and all stalkers from their own "Texas Friendship Day" celebration.

The wholesome intent of the Texas House resolution, and I quote from it directly, is to: "promote a healthy dialogue about personal friendships and enrich the lives of all participants."

The resolution also states that the Texas House of Representatives wishes to "encourage all Texans to reflect on the meaning of friendships in their own lives."

It is clear from the wording of the resolution that the Texas House of Representatives is referring only to mutual-consent personal friendships. Compelled or required relationships (or any form of illegal and Unconstitutional relationship based on bondage or enslavement or involuntary servitude, for that matter), which by definition are not freely-chosen and are not strictly-mutual-consent personal relationships, appear to be excluded from the scope of this legislative resolution. Nor does the resolution anywhere in its wording appear to indicate that ANY Texan resident on Texas Friendship Day is at all expected to associate in any way with any person whom that Texan has already rejected from his own life---or with any person who already rejected himself, for that matter.

I would also like to reassure all Texans that you can fully celebrate and fully enjoy "Texas Friendship Day" even if you choose to befriend one total honest and law-abiding and conscientious and privacy-rights-respectful and honorable mutual-consent personal friend of yours from your own current life in Texas by treating that individual to breakfast, lunch, dinner, or tea and conversation on Sunday, August 2, 2009.

Nowhere in the Texas Friendship Day resolution approved by the Texas House does it state that you have to or that you are expected to contact or do something special on August 2, 2009, for all of your personal friends that day. Nor are you required or expected to do anything nice for ANY of your friends that day, since the Texas Friendship Day resolution is a non-binding resolution that was approved by voice vote of the Texas House of Representatives.

I would also like to reassure all Texans that this Texas House resolution's scope appears to exclude professional relationships, since Texas Friendship Day is promoting strictly-mutual-consent and personal friendships.

Some might point out that "you can be a coworker or colleague of someone and still choose, along with that coworker or colleague, to become a mutual-consent and lasting personal friend of that individual."

That can, of course, occur. However, I would like to point out that many of those work-related or career-related "friendships" prove to be very short-lived, and limited to the time period in which the two individuals involved are employed at the same workplace or employed in the same career field. Once an individual selects a different employer or a different career field, many of those career-related "relationships" end very abruptly.

Official information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

Sunday, July 19, 2009

When I Become a Billionaire, I'll Establish a Heart-Healthy Chain of Latin American-Style Restaurants

One of my current goals as a Texan is to plan toward the day when I finally do become a billionaire in this southwestern state.

When I reach that point of financial solvency and success --- this only after each and every one of my various current financial debts are paid in full, I wish to emphasize -- I will celebrate by establishing a statewide chain of heart-healthy and alcohol-free Latin American-Style restaurants throughout Texas.

The name for that restaurant chain might be something like: "Delicioso," "Boca Buena," "Latino," "Vida Buena," "Vida Larga," or "Mexitina" (combining the most healthful cuisines of Mexico and Argentina and all other Latin American nations.)

Those chain restaurants will each guarantee to all customers a fool-proof menu in which any choice they make is guaranteed to be good for their heart---and good for their medical health.

Those chain restaurants will offer a wide variety of reasonably priced food items and beverage items that are each guaranteed to be:
---made from scratch;
---low in sodium;
---low in saturated fat;
---without any trans fats;
---rich in vitamins and minerals;
---high in fiber (if applicable);
---containing no bleached flour;
---containing no high fructose corn syrups as an ingredient;
---recommended by an independent panel of nutrition experts and cardiologists and other medical physicians.

As owner of that restaurant chain, I will insist on offering my employees the following fringe benefits:
---two weeks' to one month's annual paid vacation.
---drug-treatment and alcohol-treatment and tobacco-treatment programs for which any employees of mine with any of those problems would be paid by me to enroll in those programs after taking a leave of absence from the workplace.
---automatic annual pay raises to waiters based on the number of years they had worked there, as well as merit-based pay raises to individual waitpersons who qualify for those additional merit-pay salary increases.
---annual salaries so generous to each of my employees that each of my restaurants could even possibly maintain a friendly "no tipping" policy.
---very generous comprehensive health insurance policies for all employees.
---the opportunity for each and every employee to financially invest in the restaurant through payroll deductions that later accrue a generous retirement income for those employees after several years of their employment at that restaurant.
---very generous paid maternity leave for all female employees who become pregnant.
---very generous employer-paid day-care services for each and every employee who is raising a young child inside that employee's home.

My Latin American-style restaurant chain will also be famous for financially rewarding employees and customers who conscientiously report to a manager or myself a noteworthy public-safety-related concern or public-health-related concern or security-related concern or menu-related concern of any type that proves to be useful information.

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Enjoy "Texas Friendship Day" (Aug. 2, 2009) with a Public Forum or Private Conversation about Friends & Friendship

The Texas House of Representatives-approved resolution designating Sunday, August 2, 2009, as "Texas Friendship Day," emphasized that this special day is designed to promote dialogue about personal friendships throughout our entire state.

Official information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

Among the possible topics for discussion on Sunday, August 2, whether that be through a public forum, a civic group meeting, a discussion inside a church or synagogue or other religious meeting place, a personal conversation, or an E-mail correspondence with a personal friend or relative or member of the clergy, might be:

---Which qualities or traits or circumstances make for a successful or lasting personal friendship with another person?

---Using a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being a best possible score, have you recently rated your own level of empathy and thoughtfulness and generosity toward each of your mutual-consent personal friends? Do you rate yourself as a "3," a "5," or an "8" in your own level of empathy and thoughtfulness and generosity toward each of your respective personal friends?

--In your own life, how do you distinguish between your own mutual-consent personal friends and, on the other hand, your friendly personal acquaintances?

--Do you agree or disagree with those who say that it makes sense to them to classify some of their mutual-consent personal friends as "high-priority friends," and classify other personal friends of theirs as "low-priority friends"?

---Do you respect and revere the legal and Constitutional right of each of your mutual-consent personal friends to set his (or her) own priorities in life, and to set his (or her) own course in life?

---Do you believe that true platonic (non-sexual) love can develop between two mutual-consent personal friends?

--Do you agree with the view of many Americans that a personal friendship with someone you are not married to must always be strictly-platonic (non-sexual) in nature?

--Do you believe that a mutual-consent dating partner or romantic partner of yours can also be a true personal friend of yours, and vice versa.

---Do you agree with recent medical findings indicating that having a variety of satisfactory mutual-consent personal friendships may be more important in protecting your own cardiological health than being in a romantic relationship with another person.

---When you choose to be a mutual-consent personal friend of another human being, do you strive to always be truthful and honest and straightforward and never conceal or withhold pertinent information from your friend?

---As a personal friend to another person, do you feel honorbound to share with your personal friend factual information or hunches you have obtained on your own about the apparent or possible source or sources of alleged slander or public disparagement or libelous statements about your friend?

--When you experience a major conflict with a mutual-consent personal friend of yours, do you strive to be honorable and polite and consistently civil and law-abiding in promptly addressing or resolving that conflict in an honorable manner?

---Are you aware that in hundreds or thousands of homicides and attempted homicides that occur in American society, the murderer or would-be murderer is later officially identified in a court of law in the United States as a "mutual-consent personal friend" of the victim.

---In which ways do you strive to help increase the number of freedoms, options, and opportunities in life for each of your mutual-consent personal friends?


--If your mutual-consent personal friend develops a noteworthy medical problem, do you as his friend pursue factual research on that subject in order to offer ideas to your friend on how he could obtain first-rate and reliable and full medical treatment for that medical problem?

--If your mutual-consent personal friend develops alarming medical symptoms, do you encourage your friend to consult a medical physician as soon as possible?

--Do you conscientiously strive to help your mutual-consent personal friend enjoy a full and natural lifespan as a human being?

---When your mutual-consent personal friends criticize you or fault you, what are they most likely to criticize you for? How do you respond to that criticism?

---Are you consistently constructive in your style toward your mutual-consent friends, so much so that even if you wish to offer them a critical observation, you present it in well-intended and very constructive or tactful terms?

--Do you attempt to refrain from subjecting your mutual-consent personal friends to sarcastic or scathingly negative comments or outbursts from yourself that you sense might be cruel and harmful to your friends?

---Do you feel more optimistic about life because of your mutual-consent involvements with one or more personal friends in your own life?

---Do you ever attempt to censor or restrict your personal friend's Freedom of Speech rights in any way?

---Do you strive to honor and protect your personal friends' privacy rights?

---Do you strive to let your personal friends know about possible career opportunities that might appeal to them, and that might help each of your mutual-consent friends to increase their own financial earnings capacity.

---If you obtained evidence indicating that a personal friend of yours may have committed a felony crime, how would you respond to that? Would you immediately urge your friend to contact a criminal-law attorney ASAP in order to resolve any such possible criminal-law matter as quickly and honorably as possible? Would you yourself always agree to remain a personal friend of that individual in a scenario of that type, regardless of whether your friend admits in a court of law that he committed a felony crime?

--When you offer advice to your personal friend, is that advice always in support of law-abiding conduct by your friend?


---How many of your mutual-consent personal friends are significantly younger in age than yourself? How many of your mutual-consent personal friends are 10 or more years older than yourself? Do you currently tend to exclude persons from any particular age group as prospective personal friends for yourself?

---If you are an adult person and any of your mutual-consent personal friends are legally classified as minors (under age 17, for instance, by state law in Texas) whose parents approve of your associating with those youths, which strategies or conduct do you pursue to ensure that you yourself fully protect the platonic and honorably law-abiding credibility and politely generous and confidence-boosting nature of your own involvement with that youth?

---Do you strive to offer some degree of kind and empathetic leniency in your expectations of conduct exhibited by mutual-consent personal friends of yours who are under age 30, it being the case that persons under age 30 are more likely to be led astray by others during that period of their lives, and are less likely to have established disciplines or law-abiding lifestyle routines that they consistently and diligently follow.

---Do you agree that a mutual-consent personal friendship means, by definition, that the other individual has the legal and Constitutional right to choose to reject you at any time, and that you are honorbound to respect that decision by that individual?

--Do you sense that you help to boost the self-confidence and level of optimism and level of cheerfulness of each of your mutual-consent personal friends?

--Do you strive to offer creative social-outing ideas involving yourself and your personal friends? For instance, do you occasionally contact your friend and suggest that the two of you meet at an art museum or history museum or intriguing bookstore or live-theater playhouse or restaurant that neither of you has ever previously visited?

--Do you remember the most recent occasion in which you praised a mutual-consent personal friend of yours? Was the praise you offered that day fresh and original, or, instead, a mere repetition of what you or others have previously praised that individual for?

---When you praise your female friends, do you find that you are more likely to cite physical attributes or personal-appearance per se in those words of praise? If so, have you considered offering words of praise to your female friends that relate to their career-related skills and talents, creativity, resourcefulness, ingenuity, intellect, originality, conscientiousness, honesty, healthy moral values, admirable empathy, or outstanding benevolence and generosity as a mother raising young children in her home?

---If you were to jot down a list of each of the words of praise for your mutual-consent friends that you have shared with each of them, how long and how varied would each of those lists be?

---Do you attempt to introduce each of your mutual-consent personal friends to other benevolent and law-abiding and conscientious persons whom you believe your friends might enjoy becoming acquainted with and might benefit from, whether personally or professionally?

--Do you yourself refrain from ever subjecting any of your mutual-consent personal friends to any anonymous communications?


--Do you refrain from ever subjecting any of your mutual-consent personal friends to any prank or criminal mischief?

--Do you generally follow clear and consistent criteria in deciding which of your acquaintances you yourself will agree to regard as a mutual-consent personal friend of yours? For instance, do you insist that any mutual-consent personal friend of yours who is over age 30 must be someone who permanently abstains from any consumption of marijuana or any other illicit drug in each and every year of that person's life after that individual turns age 30?

--When you get together with your mutual-consent personal friends, how often is that meeting and social involvement completely alcohol-free and illicit-drug-free for both of you? Do you ever sense that your cited "camaraderie" and "platonic intimacy" with your friend is all too often alcohol-induced?

--Do you smile warmly at your mutual-consent personal friend at least once whenever you meet him or her for a social outing together?

--Do you refrain from ever knowingly subjecting your mutual-consent personal friend to any fraudulent or deliberately dishonest statements or deliberately false warnings from yourself?

--Are you generous and kind in helping to foster lifelong intellectual and creative vitality in your mutual-consent personal friend?

--Which moral values or personal values or political or religious values or beliefs do you and your mutual-consent personal friend have in common with each other?

--Do you agree that the most successful personal friendships generally involve several or numerous shared personal values or political or religious beliefs---a substantial common ground, in other words---even if shared support for full Freedom of Religion for everyone on this planet is the only religious belief that you and your friend may have in common in that particular category, for instance.

--When personal friends of yours have rejected you in the past, which reason or reasons did each of those individuals cite as their reason for rejecting you? Is there any indication that any of your current mutual-consent personal friends might cite that very same reason, or a similar reason, for rejecting you in the foreseeable future?

---If you were to reflect on your conversations and E-mail correspondences with each of your current mutual-consent friends, what percentage of the dialogues you are having with your personal friends directly refer to sex or sexuality or sexual identity or romantic topics per se? Is it possible that the long-term future of your your personal friendship would be enhanced by greater emphasis on platonic (non-sexual) themes of mutual interest?

--How would you complete the following sentence: "I am good, kind, empathetic, generous, and helpful to each of my mutual-consent personal friends because...."

--When was the last time you got together in person with each of your respective current mutual-consent friends? Have you considered calling any friend of yours whom you have not met in person at any time in the last 60-day period, and then inviting that individual to meet you for lunch or dinner or breakfast at a restaurant?

---When was the last occasion when each of your current respective mutual-consent personal friends wrote and sent you an E-mail letter or letter or made a personal phone call to you on his or her own initiative?

---Have you been helpful to any of your mutual-consent personal friends during a period in which they were experiencing a crisis?

---Have you yourself identified any person or any group of persons who currently exhibit what you yourself believe to be harmful or injurious intent or criminal intent toward any of your own current mutual-consent personal friends? Have you directly shared your own factual knowledge or impressions on that with your friend?

--Are there traits you particularly admire in one or more of your mutual-consent personal friends that you would like to yourself develop in yourself, too? For instance, does a gentlemanly, elegant, and stylish male friend of yours inspire you to yourself become more gentlemanly, more elegant, and more stylish?

---Do you agree or disagree with those who say that women tend to be better and kinder and more honest and more helpful personal friends to each other than men are to their mutual-consent men friends?

--Why do you think it is that a higher percentage of women than men invite a person of the same biological gender as themselves to enjoy a one-to-one lunch outing with them in a restaurant or cafe?

--Do you agree or disagree with the widely held belief that "Men are too competitive with each other to make good friends to each other."

---Do you agree or disagree with the widely held belief that "You can't even trust your friends these days, since if any of their own values or goals ever conflict with your own, they will pursue actions that undermine your own ability to achieve your own goals for yourself in your own life."

---Do you encourage each of your mutual-consent personal friends to always consistently pursue a law-abiding and civil strategy for resolving any conflict or problem or crisis that your friend is having?

---Are you consistently polite toward each of your male friends' or female friends' respective romantic partners or spouses? If a friend of yours asked you to offer polite and, of course, strictly-platonic (non-sexual), companionship to his romantic partner or spouse during a multi-day time period in which your male friend is out of town, would you find it easy to honor your friend's request?

---What are your personal "pet peeves," when it comes to friendships and friends in your own life?

---Have you ever significantly wronged a mutual-consent personal friend of yours? What changes in your own conduct have you made to avoid making that type of mistake in the present or future?

---If you were to ever knowingly withhold very pertinent and potentially life-saving information from a mutual-consent personal friend of yours, would you be surprised if that friend of yours were to later reject you for that cited reason?

--Of your own current mutual-consent personal friends, which are individuals whom you have been a personal friend of for at least five years? If so, what do you think accounts for the success of that mutual-consent personal friendship?

--Is there any scenario you can imagine in which you might develop a conflict of interest for yourself relating to your continuing to be a mutual-consent personal friend of another cited individual? If so, would you feel honorbound to volunteer and discuss that conflict of interest to your personal friend? Or, instead, would you merely inform your personal friend that because of a conflict of interest that's developed for which you do not fault your friend in any way, you feel that you cannot continue to be his friend?

--Do you fully support your mutual-consent personal friends' legal right to enjoy full Freedom of Speech and Freedom of Religion and Freedom of Association and privacy-rights legal and Constitutional rights, even if you disagree with many or some of your friends' political and religious beliefs and values?

--Do you ever sense that you often add to the anxiety level of any of your mutual-consent personal friends, or that you give any of your mutual-consent personal friends a headache? If so, is there anything you could do to help impart in your friend a greater sense of serenity or delight or cheerfulness or enjoyment from his or her personal involvement with you?

--Have you ever hosted any social party or social dinner party in honor of any of your own mutual-consent personal friends?

--Is there any personal friend of yours you admire so much that you might want to designate that individual in advance as legal guardian of one or more of your own children in the unlikely event that you or you and your spouse were to die or be paralyzed for life in a motor-vehicle accident?

--Is there any personal friend of yours who has been so consistently kind and helpful and generous to you that might choose to designate that noble individual as one of the cited beneficiaries in your last will and testament?

--Of all of your personal friends at present, which individual elicits the most smiles and the greatest quantity of serene laughter or delighted chuckles (as distinct from nervous laughter, for instance) from yourself?

---Of all your mutual-consent personal friends at present, which individual imparts in you a sense of the sublime beauty of life whenever you get together with that individual?

--Of all of your mutual-consent personal friends at present, which individual do you find has the greatest calming effect on you, so much so that you feel more dignified and more serene and more composed and more elegant after meeting in person with that very impressive friend of yours.

Sunday, July 12, 2009

55 Ways to Celebrate Texas Friendship Day on Sunday, August 2, 2009:

Celebration of Texas Friendship Day throughout our state on Sunday, August 2, 2009, will present a golden opportunity for each individual Texan to decide for himself how he would like to honor or befriend a mutual-consent personal friend that day.

Texas Friendship Day, a day exalting the great roles held by platonic love and platonic affection in nearly all Texans' lives, will be a heartfelt day throughout our entire state. That very special day has been officially endorsed and officially designated to take place on August 2, 2009, by the Texas House of Representatives (H.R. 3132, authored by State Rep. Dawnna Dukes during the regular session of the Texas Legislature in 2009).

Official information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on June 1, 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

Among the thousands of law-abiding and honorable ways in which you might choose to honor or befriend a personal friend of yours on Sunday, August 2, 2009, are:

(1) You might choose to invite a personal friend to have breakfast or brunch or lunch or a snack or dinner or supper with you in a nice restaurant situated near where you or your friend live.

(2) You could purchase two tickets to the August 2, 2009, Texas Rangers home game against the Seattle Mariners, and then invite your personal friend to accompany you to that professional baseball game in Arlington, Texas.

(3) You might choose to invite a personal friend of yours to attend a live-theater play performance with you.

(4) You might choose to invite a personal friend to enjoy an outdoor picnic with you.

(5) You might choose to invite a personal friend of yours to accompany you to a nature park for a shared hike or shared enjoyment of swimming at that nature park.

(6) You might choose to purchase a small gift item, such as an inspirational book, and give that to your personal friend.

(7) You might choose to invite a personal friend of yours to accompany you to a movie theater for shared enjoyment of a first-rate movie.

(8) You might invite a personal friend of yours to meet you at a coffeehouse or teahouse for shared enjoyment of coffee or tea and a friendly and warm personal conversation.

(9) You might ask a personal friend of yours if you could perform an errand for him or her on Texas Friendship Day, such as by watering the plants in his or her yard.


(10) You might invite a personal friend to join you on a leisuretime one-day trip into a nearby town or rural area destination that appeals to both of you.

(11) You might offer to conduct an oral-history taped interview of your mutual-consent personal friend on "Texas Friendship Day." You could then give a copy of the resulting oral-history audiotape or videotape to your friend as a nice memorabilia item that your friend could keep.

(12) You might bake a loaf of whole-wheat bread, or nutritious and low-fat cookies, for your personal friend, and then present that loaf of bread or tasty cookies to your personal friend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(13) You might ask your friend to mention to tell you about one tourist site or cultural site open on Sunday, August 2, 2009, that your friend has never visited, but would like to visit. You could then invite your friend to join you on a shared outing to that tourist site or cultural site.

(14) You might invite your friend to accompany you on a shared tour of a museum or art museum that is open on "Texas Friendship Day."

(15) You might purchase a special friendship-theme greeting card, and then write a very appreciative and affectionate message on that greeting card that you could then give or mail to your Texan friend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(16) You might ask your friend to cite to you the name of one restaurant, cafe, coffeehouse, or teahouse that your friend has never been to, and would like to visit as a customer. You could then offer to treat your friend to a shared meal or shared tea or coffee outing to that restaurant, cafe, coffeehouse, or teahouse.

(17) You might choose to invite your personal friend to join you for a shopping trip to a fashion wear store or boutique that is offering a sale on Texas Friendship Day. You could then offer to purchase one item of clothing or boutique item that your friend particularly likes.

(18) You could invite your personal friend to join you for an inner-tubing ride or paddle-boating ride on a river where it is safe to ride in an inner-tube or paddle-boat, and where the business renting you that inner tube or paddle-boat would be situated closeby.

(19) You could invite your personal friend to pursue with you a favorite hobby of his or hers on Texas Friendship Day. If your personal friend collects postcards or maps or photographs or artworks, you could invite your friend to accompany you to a store that's open for business on Sunday, August 2, and that would offer those types of items for sale.

(20) If your personal friend enjoys collecting antiques, you could invite your friend to join you for an outing to a first-rate antique store open on Sundays that is situated within driving distance.

(21) You could invite your personal friend to join you for a shared round-trip ride on an Amtrak passenger train or Greyhound bus to a nearby destination with lots of scenic appeal or charm.

(22) If you are artistically inclined, you could offer to draw a sketch or paint a portrait of your personal friend on Texas Friendship Day.

(23) If you enjoy taking photographs, you could offer to take numerous photographs of your friend that day, and then give your friend copies of those photographs.

(24) You could ask your friend if there is any intriguing historic site anywhere in Texas that your friend has not visited yet. You could then invite your friend to accompany you on a weekend trip to that historic site.

(25) You could invite your friend to join you for a shared outing to a fresh-water lake beach or an ocean beach.

(26) You could ask your personal friend if there is any magazine or newspaper that that personal friend of yours would like to subscribe to, but currently does not. You could then purchase a gift subscription to that magazine or newspaper for your friend, and provide your friend with a receipt about that gift subscription on Texas Friendship Day.

(27) You could invite your friend to attend a religious service, and particularly a religious service featuring a sermon or discussion about mutual-consent personal platonic relationships and friendships.

(28) You could ask your friend in advance what he or she would most like as a present on "Texas Friendship Day." You might then choose to purchase that present for your friend and give it to your friend on Texas Friendship Day.

(30) You could invite your personal friend to join you for an outing to a Texas-theme memorabilia store. You could then browse through that store with your friend.

(31) You could prepare a special meal inside your home or apartment for your personal friend, and then treat your friend to that nice meal.

(32) You could search for a poem about friendship you like, or a poem you like that best describes your personal friend, and then you could then read that poem aloud to your friend on Texas Friendship Day.

(33) You might choose to organize a public forum in your Texan city or town or county featuring speeches and public discussion and questions from the audience about what makes for successful and mutually-beneficial and lasting personal friendships.

(34) You could write a poem about your friend as a personal tribute to himself or herself. You could then read that poem aloud to your friend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(35) You could sponsor a special party in honor of your personal friend, with each of the guests at that party being individuals who like and admire your friend, and would like to give a speech in praise of your friend at that party.

(36) You could write and mail a personal letter to your friend in which you tell that friend of yours what you most admire about himself or herself, and what a big difference he or she has made to your own life.

(37) You could purchase a botanical plant for your personal friend, whether that be an indoor plant or an outdoor patio plant, and give that plant to your fiend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(38) You could invite your friend to participate in a jointly produced and mutually-agreed-upon "You Tube" videotape in which the two of you together in a wholesome and heartfelt manner express and share with the entire world the ways in which you are happier and have more options in life and feel more creative as a human being because of your personal friendship and your personal friend.

(39) You could identify your personal friend's top five platonic (non-sexual, non-romantic) passions in life. You could then hand your friend a gift certificate you had purchased that's honored by a store or business catering to one or more of your friend's leading platonic passions in life.

(40) You could write a short story or essay inspired by your friend, and then hand that friend the short story or essay on "Texas Friendship Day."

(41) You might invite a personal friend to join you in a shared bicycling adventure outdoors.

(42) You could ask your personal friend if he would be willing to let you write a book inspired by his life story, with the understanding that you would give your friend a chance to review that book manuscript before you submitted it for publication by a book publisher.

(43) You could obtain a list of local civic groups that your friend might want to join, and then, with your friend's permission, pay his first year's or first six months' membership dues in that civic group.

(44) You could celebrate "Texas Friendship Day" in part by giving each of your favorite culinary recipes to your personal friend. Your personal friend, in turn, might choose to give you each of his or her favorite cooking recipes that same day.

(45) You could identify a nationwide, multi-state regional, statewide, countywide, or citywide award that you truly believe your personal friend might have a chance of receiving. You could then present your friend on "Texas Friendship Day" with an essay or letter of recommendation you write to the selection committee that determines which individual or individuals are awarded that honor.

(46) You could identify a television show that celebrates mutual-consent personal friendships, and you could obtain tickets for you and your friend to visit the studio where that television show is produced. You could then possibly qualify to have a role in that particular show as contestants or participants.

(47) You could compile a notebook or scrapbook full of sincere words of praise for your mutual-consent personal friend that you had obtained from numerous persons who like and admire your friend. You could then give that notebook or scrapbook to your friend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(48) You could attempt to identify one or two musical recordings that you and your friend both enjoy quite a bit. You could then make a point of playing those two musical recordings in the presence of your friend while you host your friend inside your private residence.

(49) You could pursue lots of Google research and other factual research to identify the places and cultural attractions that you believe your friend would enjoy the most, based on the leading platonic passions that your friend has expressed to you through the years. You could then obtain and compile a variety of brochures and pamphlets---guides to tourists, for instance---to 10 or more of those places and cultural attractions. You could then hand those brochures and pamphlets to your friend on Sunday, August 2, 2009.

(50) You could search for the one wall-hanging poster that you believe would most appeal to your personal friend. You could then purchase that poster and give it to your friend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(51) You could offer your personal friend a private singing performance in which you would sing to your friend each of his or her five favorite songs.

(52) You could write a song in praise of your friend, and then sing that to your friend on "Texas Friendship Day."

(53) If you play a musical instrument that your friend enjoys quite a bit, you could play a solo clarinet performance or a solo flute or saxophone or trombone or trumpet or solo recorder performance, for instance, during a visit by your friend to your home on Texas Friendship Day.

(54) You could identify the two or three famous living persons, or living celebrities, whom your personal friend admires the most. You could then write to each of those famous persons and ask each of them to please send you an autographed photograph containing a special inscription that is addressed to your personal friend. You could then give each of those inscribed photographs to your friend as a present to him or her on "Texas Friendship Day."

(55) You could choose to sponsor a very wholesome intergenerational party in honor of your mutual-consent personal friend, with numerous friendly parents, along with their children and teenage youths, being invited to attend that tea and healthy-foods party.
This wholesome intergenerational party might have a nice rejuvenating and cheerful effect on your friend, particularly if he or she is either middle-aged or a senior citizen. To make sure that the party is successful, you could hire a day-care-services educator and friendly high-school teacher and child-friendly party-consultant with expertise on how to keep children and teenage youths entertained, to assist in planning and supervising that very inspirational party.

Tuesday, July 7, 2009

Quotes for "Texas Friendship Day" from Great Thinkers: Discussion Topic Ideas for that special day on Sunday, August 2, 2009

The Texas House of Representatives is inviting all Texans to reflect on the role of personal friendships in their own life.

That invitation from our state government has come through a unanimous voice vote of the Texas House in 2009 that's designated Sunday, August 2, 2009, as "Texas Friendship Day" throughout our entire state.

That "Texas Friendship Day" was designated by House Resolution 3132---a people-friendly resolution that was wisely authored by State Representative Dawnna Dukes of Austin.

Official information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives on the final day of the regular session in 2009, can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132

Among the many wise observations about personal friendships that I hope will be discussed throughout Texas on Sunday, August 2, 2009, are the following quotations found in the 1958 reference book "The Home Book of Quotations, 9th Edition" (a book compiled by Burton Stevenson and published by Dodd, Mead & Company of New York City, New York):

----"Fate makes relatives, but choice makes friends." (Le sort fait les parents, le choix fait les amis.)
By Delile, in "Pitie."


---"A friend is a person with whom I may be sincere."
By Ralph Waldo Emerson, in 'Essays, First Series: Friendship."

---"A faithful friend is the medicine of life."
From "Apocrypha: Ecclesiasticus", vi, 16.

---"It is better to have one friend of great value than many friends who are good for nothing."
By Anarcharsis, as quoted in Laertius, "Anarcharsis.' Sec. 105.

---"A friend to all is a friend to none."
By Aristotle, as quoted in Laertius, "Aristotle," Sec. 21.

----"The ornament of a house is the friends who frequent it."
By Ralph Waldo Emerson, in "Society and Solitude: Domestic Life."

---"The only way to have a friend is to be one."
By Ralph Waldo Emerson, in "Essays, First Series: Friendship."

----"Be a friend to thyself, and others will be so too."
By Thomas Fuller, in "Gnomologia", No. 847.

---"When a friend asks there is no to-morrow." By George Herbert, in "Jacula Prudenium."

----"Be friends with the friendly, and visit him who visits you." By Hesiod, in "Works and Days", 1. 353.

---"Thou wert my guide, philosopher, and friend."
By Pope, in "Essay on Man," Epis. iv. 1. 390.

---"Be slow in choosing a friend, slower in changing."
By Benjamin Franklin, "Poor Richard."

---"The friends of my friends are my friends." (Les amis de mes amis sont mes amis.) Author unknown. A French proverb.

---"A good man is the best friend, and therefore soonest to be chosen, longer to be retained; and indeed, never to be parted with."
By Jeremy Taylor, in "A Discourse of the Nature, Measures, and Offices of Friendship."

---"Friends are an aid to the young, to guard them from error; to the elderly, to attend to their wants and to supplement their failing power of action; to those in the prime of life, to assist them to noble deeds." By Aristotle, in "Nicomachean Ethics", Bk. viii, sec. 1.

---"No receipt openeth the heart but a true friend."
By Francis Bacon, in "Essays: Of Friendship."

---"Of all the means to insure happiness throughout the whole of life, by far the most important is the acquisition of friends."
By Epicurus, in "Sovran Maxims", No. 27.

---"A friend in the market is better than money in the chest."
By Thomas Fuller, in "Gnomologia," No. 119.

---"A true friend is the greatest of all blessings, and the one which we take least thought to acquire. (Un veritable ami est le plus grand de tous les biens et celui de tous q'on songe le moins a acquerir.)
By La Rochefoucauld, in "Maximes Posthumes," No. 544.

---"A constant friend is a thing rare and hard to find."
By Plutarch, in "Morals: On Abundance of Friends."

---"It is better to make one's friendships at home." By Solon, in "Plutarch, 'Lives: Solon," Sec. 5.

---"'Tis something to be willing to commend;
But my best praise is, that I am your friend."
By Thomas Southerne, "To Mr. Congreve."

---"A man cannot be said to succeed in this life who does not satisfy one friend." By Thoreau, in "Winter: Journal," 19 Feb. 1857.

---"Friends should be preferred to kings."
By Voltaire, in "Letter to Frederich, Crown Prince of Prussia," 26 Aug. 1736.


---"He who has much in common with his fellowmen will have much in common with a friend."
By Seneca, in "Epistuloe ad Lucilium." Epis. xlviii, 3.

---"Friends---those relatives that one makes for one's self." ("Les amis---ces parents que l'on set fait soi-meme.") By Deschamps, "L'Ami."

---"'Tis thus that on the choice of friends
Our good or evil name depends."
By John Gay, "Fables: Old Woman and Her Cats."

---"Choose thy friends like thy books, few but choice." By James Howell, "Proverbs," 1659.

---"Friends are like melons. Shall I tell you why?
To find one good, you must a hundred try." By Claude Mermet, "Epigram."

---"Choose for your friend him that is wise and good, secret and just, ingenious and honest, and in those things which have a latitude, use your own liberty." By Jeremy Taylor, "Discourse of the Nature, Measures, and Offices of Friendship."

----"Best friend, my well-spring in the wilderness!"
By George Eliot, "Spanish Gypsy," Bk. iii, 1, 486.

---"Friend more divine than all divinities."
By George Eliot, "The Spanish Gypsy," Bk. iv, 1. 8.

---"A day for toil, an hour for sport,
But for a friend is life too short."

By Emerson, "Conduct of Life: Considerations by the Way."

---"This is the comfort of friends, that though they may be said to die, yet their friendship and society are, in the best sense, ever present, because immortal."
By William Penn, "Fruites of Solitude."

---"Nothing but heaven itself is better than a friend who is really a friend."
By Plautus, "Bacchides," I. 385. (Act iii, sc. 2.)

---"They are rich who have true friends."
By Thomas Fuller, "Gnomologia," No. 4957.

---"It is strange that a man can always tell you how many sheep he has, but he cannot tell you how many friends he has, so slight is the value he puts upon them."
By Socrates. (Diogenes Laertius, "Socrates." Sec. 13.)


---"The best elixir is a friend."By William Somerville, "The Hip."

---"Nothing can be purchased which is better than a firm friend." ("Amico firmo nihil emi melius potest.")
By Tacitus, "Annals." Bk. i, sec. 12.


----"Nothing makes the earth seem so spacious as to have friends at a distance; they make the latitudes and longitudes."
By Thoreau, in "Letter to Mrs. E. Castleton," 22 May, 1843.

---"A good friend never offends."By James Howell, "Proverbs," 23; 1659.

---"He is a true friend that doth thee good."
By Rivers, "Dictes and Sayings," 57. (1477).


---"There is nothing more annoying than a tardy friend." ("Tardo amico nihil est quidquam inaequius.")
By Plautus, "Panulus," 1. 504. (Act iii, sc. 1)

Thursday, July 2, 2009

Questions & Answers about Texas Friendship Day (Sunday, August 2, 2009)

QUESTION: I have read that the Texas House of Representatives of the Texas Legislature on June 1, 2009, unanimously approved by voice vote the designation of Sunday, August 2, 2009, as "Texas Friendship Day" throughout all of Texas.

ANSWER: August 2, 2009, is a great day for our entire state that celebrates your Constitutionally protected legal and human right to decide for yourself which individuals you agree to regard as your mutual-consent personal friends. It's a special day that celebrates your own---and millions of other Texans'---Freedom of Speech, Freedom of Mutual-Consent Association, Freedom of Religion, Freedom of Access to Reliable Information and Honest Communications, and Freedom of Privacy legal and Constitutional rights.
Personal friendships significantly strengthen our own--and our friends'-- full range of freedoms and rights and privileges in life in a very powerful way. Personal friendships significantly increase our and our friends' options and opportunities in life.

QUESTION: That may all be true, but I myself tend to balk at events that sound like greeting card messages. Give me one solid and tangible and down-to-earth, practical reason why I myself in my own life should choose to celebrate Texas Friendship Day this August during my leisuretime.

ANSWER: Personal platonic relationships account for the vast majority of all personal relationships in your life. It makes sense for you to celebrate and reflect on the value of strictly-mutual-consent, freely-chosen, personal platonic or non-sexual relationships----friendships-----in your own life. They have a pervasive bearing on your own quality of life and level of enjoyment of life.

QUESTION: Could you be more specific?

ANSWER: One sociology professor at the University of North Carolina campus in Greensboro was quoted in "The New York Times" of April 21, 2009, as saying that "Friendship has a bigger impact on our psychological well-being than family relationships."

QUESTION: That finding is very surprising.

ANSWER: You're right. It differs dramatically from what Americans generally assume. In fact, a six-year study of 736 middle-aged Swedish men determined that attachment to a romantic partner didn't appear to affect the risk of heart attack or fatal coronary heart disease among those men. However, having personal friendships did significantly reduce the risk of Swedish men having a heart attack or fatal coronary heart disease, according to an April 21, 2009, "New York Times" article that was written by Tara Parker-Pope.

QUESTION: From what you are saying, it sounds as if lasting, honest, mutual-consent personal friendships are rejuvenating to the point of life-saving.

ANSWER:
Also impressive are results of a 10-year Australian study, concluding that older people with a large circle of friends were 22 percent less likely to die during that 10-year study period than were older persons with fewer friends, according to the same "New York Times" article of April 21, 2009, that was written by Tara Parker-Pope.

QUESTION: Any other research findings you might mention about the benefits of mutual-consent personal friendships in life?

ANSWER: A study of approximately 3,000 female American nurses with breast cancer determined in 2006 that female nurses without close friends were four times as likely to die from breast cancer as female nurses who each had 10 or more personal friends. This is according to that "New York Times" article of April 21, 2009.

QUESTION: It seems that having mutual-consent and lasting personal friendships is a very powerful form of medicine.

ANSWER: Very much so. In fact, a September 2002 article in "Reader's Digest"
magazine by Katherine Grifin contains an interesting quote about that very same point from Ms. Shelley Taylor, a research psychologist at the University of California at Los Angeles. Social ties are "the cheapest medicine we've got," Ms. Taylor reportedly observed.

QUESTION: That's amazing!

ANSWER: It's a tribute to the healthful effects of mutually-honest, mutually-constructive, kind, privacy-rights-respectful communications and in-person human involvements that we associate with true personal friendships. True mutual-consent personal friends have a depth of devotion and generosity and attentiveness and in-depth interest toward each other, and an enthusiastic affinity for each other, that is very healthy for each of those individuals. True and lasting personal friendships involving frequent exchanges of warm smiles during in-person meetings are far beyond mere acquaintanceships. In fact, I would expect that true personal friends account for a significant percentage of all the words of praise that each of us receives in our personal lives.

QUESTION: You know, I think you have talked me into celebrating Texas Friendship Day on August 2, 2009.

ANSWER: That's great to hear, and you definitely will be a big winner for doing that. Let me cite to you some other tangible benefits from personal friendships. In 2008, Harvard University researchers concluded that strong social ties can protect the health of a person's brain as that individual ages. On a similar note, a three-year study of more than 1,200 senior citizens in Sweden determined in 2000 that those who had satisfying friendships were 40 percent less likely to develop dementia or senility than those Swedish senior citizens studied who either had few personal platonic relationships or unsatisfactory personal platonic relationships. That latter study was reported in the September 2002 "Reader's Digest" magazine article by Katherine Griffin.

QUESTION: But what about the increased exposure to contagious diseases by individuls with lots of friends? Aren't individuals who lead active platonic social lives more likely to catch germs and contagious diseases from all that handshaking and platonic physical contact or physical proximity with their platonic personal friends?

ANSWER: I can offer you a very good response to that question. One study, also cited in the April 21, 2009, "New York Times" article by Tara Parker-Pope, concluded that people with strong personal friendships are less likely than other human beings to contract colds.

QUESTION: I wonder what might account for that latter finding?

ANSWER: According to the "Times" article by Ms. Parker-Pope, individuals who have strong personal friendships experience lower levels of stress than do individuals without strong personal friendships.

QUESTION: Could you tell me more about the September 2002 "Reader's Digest" article noting the wide array of emotional and medical benefits from mutual-consent personal friendships?

ANSWER: I'm glad you asked. That article by Katherine Griffin was entitled, "Friends: The secret to a longer life."

QUESTION: What did that "Reader's Digest" article say?

ANSWER: That September 2002 "Reader's Digest" article states, and I quote verbatim from a portion of that article:

"More than a hundred studies attest to the health benefits of friendship. People with strong social networks are shown to:
---"Boost their chances of surviving life-threatening illnesses.
---"Have stronger, more resilient immune systems.
---"Improve their mental health.
---"Life longer than people without social support."


TEXAS-FRIENDLY FOOTNOTE: Official information about the "Texas Friendship Day" resolution (H.R. 3132) that was approved by the Texas House of Representatives in 2009 can be found at either or both of the following links:

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/tlodocs/81R/billtext/html/HR03132F.htm

http://www.capitol.state.tx.us/BillLookup/Text.aspx?LegSess=81R&Bill=HR3132