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A White Canvas & Friendship

I am sorry for the delay in posting anything new.  It continues to be a crazy and wild world out there, but also one that is full of excitement, energy, and potential.  Underlying all of that are three fundamental rocks of our society: faith, family, and friendships.

I wanted to briefly talk about the last one on this list - friendships.  I have been blessed and continue to blessed with great friends in life.  They constantly show up in ways that are beyond imagination and I think the world is a better place because of these individuals, I know my world is.

There is a new show that opened on Broadway - Art.  I have not seen this iteration of the show but I did see the late 1990s version that stared Alfred Molina, Victor Garba, and Alan Alda - legends.  It was fantastic and brilliant and the first non-musical Broadway production I saw.  

The show centers around 3 friends and their conversations about life, friendships, and art after one of the friends spends $10,000 for a contemporary art piece that is a white canvas.  There is a line in the play that I still recall:

IF, you are who you are, BECAUSE I am who I am.  
AND, if I am who I am BECAUSE you are who you are.  
THEN, I am not who I am AND you are are not who you are. 

(Capitalization and punctuation added by me for purposes of conveying the message.)  Maybe read the above a few more times to let it sink in.

Despite my love of the play and I am not one to disagree with the great play author, but I do disagree.  I think there is nothing wrong with friends having impacts on who we are as people.  We are all impacted by the people around us - thus, I feel extremely fortunate to be surrounded by so many great people.  And I hope that I am a positive impact on those around me - certainly I try to be.

This is not meant to attack people being genuine and true to themselves.  That is super important and there are no shortage of influences trying to change that.  But true friendship can help you be true to a better version of yourself and maybe help you find more ways to be genuine.

Despite my disagreement with that one line, I would still recommend seeing the play.  It is brilliant and I cannot wait to see the revival.

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