A week ago today, on Halloween Day, was the Second Rezz Day for my dear, dear friend Bird Thor. Unfortunately, I forgot her Rezz Day.
Bird has been a friend since my early days at SL. She was here with me when we created Between Homes (BH) and she has been my friend through the good times and through the bad times. Bird has been my protector, alerting me to problems at BH. Because I cannot be at BH all the time, I rely on her to be my eyes and ears when I am not in world.
Bird is from Sweden; her command of English far exceeds my own rudimentary knowledge of Swedish (yes I can say IKEA, Saab, Volvo and ABBA but that is about it). Since meeting Bird, I have learned that she has a wealth of knowledge of American pop culture. Bird has a “wicked” sense of humor – she continually makes me crack up with her jokes (which lose nothing in translation).
Bird is an all-around talented individual. Although we both came in world at about the same time, Bird has already taught herself to build objects like clothing, furniture and now houses (Bird has tried to teach me how to build but I still cannot build anything more complex than a sign).
This is me in front of a house that Bird just built at Between Homes.
Bird is also a talented writer (she loves to writes about one of her favorite subjects, Vikings); Bird publishes her own blog Bird’s Land.
Now getting back to the forgotten Rezz Day. When I tried to apologize to Bird for my oversight, she simply brushed it off by saying, “you have a lot to do Debbie.” Even though Bird was well within her rights to be upset with me (or at the very least disappointed) for forgetting her Rezz Day, she was gracious and forgiving.
Bird’s generous reaction got me to think about the subject of friendship. What is a true friend? When do you know when a person is a true friend?
Friendship is considered one of the central human experiences, and has been sanctified by all major religions. The Epic of Gilgamesh, a Babylonian poem that is among the earliest known literary works in history, chronicles in great depth the friendship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu. The Greco-Roman had, as paramount examples, the friendship of Orestes and Pylades, and, in Virgil's Aeneid, the friendship of Euryalus and Nisus, and lastly Robert and Aimee. The Abrahamic faiths have the story of David and Jonathan. Friendship played an important role in German Romanticism. A good example for this is Schiller's Die Bürgschaft.
The Roman writer Cicero believed that in order to have a true friendship with someone there must be all honesty and truth. If there is not, then this is not a true friendship. In that case, friends must be one hundred percent honest with each other and put one hundred percent of their trust in the other person. Cicero also believed that for people to be friends with another person, they must do things without the expectation that their friend will have to repay them.
The Christian Gospels state that Jesus Christ declared, "Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."(John 15:13).
By any definition, Bird is a friend and I am so very glad that she is a part of “my crew” at Between Homes. More importantly, however, I am glad that Bird is part of my SL life.
This is Bird and I at Gloeing Ember's home. That's Starr, the German Shepherd, in front of us pretending that he is taking the picture. Behind us are the two dolphins who live at Glo's cove - Chico and Chica.
Thank you for being a friend Bird - this is for you!
La Verne and Shirley – Opening Music
