The Next Question

Who are your friends?

Nothing new here. Just stuff we forgot. 

Friends are the people you invite in for a coffee. You share their joys when things are going well, their pain when they are suffering, and lend a hand when they are in need, and they do the same for you. You depend on and trust each other. Right? Remember?

But it's more than that. The complete answer begs another question. Who are not your friends?

The negative question is easier to answer because our noisy, aggressive, competitive not-friends demand more attention than our warm fuzzy considerate friends. Fear, distrust, anger, and aggression trump affection. Watch out for your not-friends who will help themselves at your expense if they get the chance. 

Donald says he doesn't need anything from Canada. Then he shuts down international industry and poisons trade with tariffs, and calls Canada nasty when we stop buying American booze and visiting Disneyland. Ambassador Pete complains that Canadians are no longer passionate about their relationship with Americans. What's a Canuck supposed to think?  Are Americans friends or not?

Just to be clear, the Trumpian way is life as a game. To win, first learn the rules, and then play it better than anyone else. By the way, there are no rules except the ones Donald makes up because he's smarter than anyone else and popular, and if he's falling behind he will change the rules. He's going to win. The people most likely to lose are the ones who think Donald is their friend. Actually he doesn't have friends. He has marks, sycophants and enemies and they are interchangeable on a whim.

Personally, I think most Americans are our friends. Collectively, since they may have put a psychopath in charge, they aren't gonna geta cupa coffee from us without some serious negotiations. 

Meanwhile the other psychopaths are trying to hide their amusement over Donald's random moves, unfriending friends and befriending enemies so nobody knows where they stand. Everyone is grabbing what they can amidst the chaos. Meanwhile, he-who-thinks-he-is-the-smartest is actually the easiest mark. Flattery works. Isn't life fun?

When the smoke clears, and the psychopaths are done, in some mellow future we may rediscover the meaning of friendship. 

Who are your friends?
They are the ones
with whom you mutually honour
this ancient rule.
Treat others the way you want to be treated.

It's golden.
It's not a game. 
Everybody wins.

Dorothy tuned in to the Paikin Podcast yesterday. As we listened to Janice Stein and Michael Ignatieff discuss toxic politics in the USA and in Canada, I was reminded that there are always more questions to explore. Trump's presumption of entitlement has parallels at other levels of the holarchy. 

For sure, there are humans who are friends of the natural world; but collectively we worship GDP (one of the thousand names of god), and the first commandment is GROWTH. Since we are the smartest species around, and we make the rules, we are deluded that we can win with mines, concrete and steel, highways, fossil fuels, nets, glyphosate and neonics, pleasing ourselves, careless of the climate, whales, forests and butterflies. 

If nature loses,
we all lose.

It's not a game.

Let's be friends.

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Sea Ice Melt: Just Have a Think, Sept 21, 2025.

World on Edge: Paikin's Podcast, Jeff Kopstein and Janice Stein, Sept 8, 2025