Standing at The Bottom of A Steep Hill: The Value of Friends
A few days ago a close friend of mine died. John and I first met in 1967 in the office of the president of Cleveland State Community College. Each of us had come to the office that day to sign a contract to teach at this new school, the first community college established in East Tennessee. For the forty-two years since that afternoon, John and I remained close friends, never losing touch, never going very long without visiting in person, talking, writing, and/or emailing, although we ended up living more than a thousand miles apart for many decades. I’ve inventoried the friendships in my life since John died; and the forty-two years of friendship with John is the longest active friendship I have been privileged to have in my life.
This long friendship-and now the loss of that dear friend-was on my mind one day this week when I saw an article in The New York Times about friendship. The journalist described a study done last year with thirty-four students at the University of Virginia. The students were taken to the base of a steep hill and fitted with a weighed backpack. The students were then asked to estimate the steepness of the hill. Some participants stood next to friends during the experiment, and some stood alone. (more…)
