An Unfinished Story?

BLOGGING ABOUT WHATEVER

ENTRY - 3

TITLE: An Unfinished Story?

AUTHOUR: J. William Bell

DATE POSTED: 2025-03-25

Let me tell you a story about two friends; we'll call them Joe and Mark.

At first, Joe and Mark barely interacted with each other; they had mutual friends and acquaintances, but Mark was a year older, more outgoing, confident, and bombastic. Joe was in many ways Mark's opposite, in terms of personality and appearance; it seemed likely that these two young men would never get to know each other, but, they were both students at the same high school. Eventually, perhaps by blind luck, fate, God being generous or The Devil being devious; Joe and Mark took a creative writing class together.

They bonded over similar interests, their sense of humour, and a mutual recognition of each other's obvious passion and talent for storytelling. They could be vulgar and honest with each other about everything, and they could forgive each other for being only themselves in this friendship; most of the time; nobody mortal is perfect (and some potentially immortal folks out there make mistakes too). It probably helped that they were both teenagers.

Time passed, they got to be in their 20s, and despite some personal challenges like poverty, getting their hearts broken and moving to different cities, they remained friends. The internet and social media, as it existed from 2002 to 2015 played a part in keeping them in contact with each other.

Sadly; from this point on, I can only honestly tell you what happened from mostly Joe's point of view. Maybe someday I'll get access to Mark's side of the story (and maybe Hell will finally open a successful Ice Cream Parlour).

Mark and Joe got to be in their 30s, and they both got married; Mark first, Joe a little bit later. Joe noticed that marriage was quite a challenge for Mark. Mental health concerns that he could ignore while being a bachelor could not be ignored anymore. To his credit, Mark wanted to be a better man for his wife, and he did put in the work to become so. This impressed Joe, and confirmed the faith and confidence he always will have in Mark.

Joe's marriage was a disaster. Promises were not kept, and one side tried to establish an abusive and unaccountable status quo of dominance over the other. The other side wanted a relationship built on mutual respect and symbiosis. Neither side got exactly what they wanted, they never should have gotten married in the first place. Joe came out of that failed marriage very depressed, bitter, and resentful, with some new mental health problems to struggle with as well. As he healed from this tragedy, Joe became very sympathetic to The Men's Rights Movement, as well as many other philosophies which have sprung from the experiences and opinions of men who have profoundly suffered from the cruelty of women and their allies; who claim to be feminists; but tend to act like misandrists.

Joe's new perspectives probably made Mark uncomfortable, I can only speculate about this; again, I don't have reliable access to Mark's side of the story. What I do know is that Mark decided to distance himself from Joe, and deny him just like Saint Peter denied Jesus. Whether or not Mark ever will feel shame for his betrayal as Peter did; I do not know.

At first, Joe was equally sad and angry with Mark's abandonment, as well as Mark's very public-yet-diplomatically worded dismissal of Joe... When Joe calmed down, he was able to consider this from Mark's perspective.

Joe knew that Mark and himself favoured different political perspectives. Joe never let that get in the way of their friendship; he knows that he is sometimes very fallible, and having a friend with a different perception of reality than his own can often be a useful resource for mutual survival, and the starting point of some intellectually stimulating discourse. Joe also knew that Mark did not favour the same religious beliefs as he did; fortunately, Joe's Christian upbringing helped him to remember that you cannot have a semi-functional relationship with God unless you voluntarily tolerate the truth; even when the truth breaks your heart and makes you cry. Also, Joe wanted to keep following the example of Jesus; and that weirdo was and is always eager to interact with everybody, be honest with everybody, be kind with everybody, and let them be free to choose to leave; if they cannot handle the challenges that come with being in a relationship with Jesus.

Joe recognized that Mark could not handle the challenges that came with being in a relationship with him. He knows that being in a relationship with him is sometimes radically more difficult than being in a relationship with Jesus.

In Joe's heart, Mark has never stopped being his friend. He hopes that one day, they can reconcile. But he knows that such a reconciliation will take a lot of time, dialogue, and compromise. It is possible that Mark does not have any more of that to spare for Joe.

Joe misses his friend, and he hopes, dreams, and prays only the best for him.

And this is where that story currently ends. Excelsior!