Divergence

To my childhood friends and brothers:

Robert Frost saw two roads that diverged in the yellow woods. We have taken three, one for the each of us.

The hand of fate, or perhaps what we once in our days of innocence called God, brought us together. We each led a different life, had such varying backgrounds, and outlook. But service to the people brought us together, the love for music brought us together.

And so we spent the most confusing and difficult years of our lives together; we sought life together, we tore through veils of confusion together. We became bossom friends that shared our lives, and our search for who we were, as one and in confidence.

You were intelligent, sophisticated in thought, witty, enviously sociable, outgoing and a distinct leader others instinctively looked up to. You lifted spirits, you raised others from the depths of their misery.

You were quiet, reserved, passive but deep. You had a flaming compassion that others rarely had. You made a good conversationalist, a good listener, a worthy companion and friend.

I was gawky, moody, and reflective. I was highly perceptive, analytical, and frightfully mature. I was shy, angry, and angsty. I was the one behind the action. I was the bridge that the both of you crossed.

And so we became the best of friends. We braved through the torments of teenagehood, the angst, the misunderstandings, the plagues of late study nights, the unmotivated rebellions against parents. And so we shared both joy and strife. We swore a vow of friendship that would transcend time and space over a burning candle that glowed and swelled, filling the room with a light that radiated with our spirits. And in our youthful optimism, we believed all things were possible, we believed we had a greater love for one another that would stand the test of time.

But life got the better of us. You pursued the legal studies in the hope that some justice could prevail in a world filled with disservice and injustice. You sought to learn the art of enterprise and commerce to make a difference in this world with what you could conjure fiscally. I pursued my love for the humanities, for literary studies because I was concerned about the human condition.

We grew in the knowledge of our field. We became masters of the trait; we made it to the top in our faculties. That knowledge empowered us and made us grow in strength and confidence. Our intellectual pursuit solidified our personalities and made us who we are.

But knowledge toxified our bond and corroded what we spent years building together. It dissolved our trust and dependence on each other. And so our divergent views about life, love, and that which brought us together - Faith and Belief - tore us apart.

A careless word, a heated ideological argument, and life ... broke us.

This is where we are today many years down. This is who we are, or perhaps never wanted to be.

And so I hope life finds the better for the both of you. Our paths once crossed - and it was good - but now they've diverged and would not meet again.

Goodbye my friends.