Form: Short Note

(Thanks)
I have amazing friends. They’re profoundly moral and hard working people, and I consider myself just as profoundly blessed (yes, that’s a faith term) and lucky (a philosophical term), to be able to share their company. Spent the evening with one last night – lots of stories – and just could not believe the effort he put into community and family – without really benefitting from it himself.

If I learned anything from surviving cancer, it’s that when all is said and done, doing work you enjoy, having lots of good friends, and ‘just enough’ wealth to feel vaguely secure, is about as good as it gets. After that it’s just a ‘stuff’, ‘stimulation’ and ‘status’ race, to see how much better you can do in the great game – only to realize its the people who choose family and friends that won the race without even entering it.

Being wealthy doesn’t seem to have done much for me at all. Perhaps the opposite. Living overseas in a four star hotel or a small apartment, with friends, a woman I care for, and nice little business, is about as happy as I’ve ever been.

The men I admire are those I can’t be: they have family first careers, care about others enough to work for their benefit, an are obsessively moral.