"Greater love hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends" John 15:13

What is this????? The celebrated agnostic using a biblical quote as his title? Hang on a second, I never said I was agnostic. Much like Spencer Tracy in Inherit the Wind, I am a firm believer that religion and agnosticism can peacefully coexist. I know....How? Never mind, this is not about religion. It is not about agnostics or even about me. It is about friends. The quote is from the Bible but it was made very famous by Rudyard Kipling in his popular book, The Jungle Book. Bagheera the panther tells Mowgli this very quote as Baloo lays there, dead. Killed while protecting Mowgli. Well, we know that Baloo is not dead. It does not change the sentiment, though. Is there a love greater than the willingness to lay down your life for a freind? Think abot this for a minute. I mean it!!!! Think about it. There is a gunman standing in front of you and he IS going to kill you or your friend. Do you say, "Kill me. I am single and have no one. He is married with kids and a huge family. He deserves to live. Take me." Or the other way, " Kill me. He is single. He has never had the pleasure of being a parent. He has never experienced the love of a wife. Let him live so that he may see how great these things are. I have them. I will miss them but I had my turn." Would you do one of these? Would you lay down your life for a friend? I guess we need to define what a friend is. For some of you. For me, a friend is anyone that is in my life that is not related to me. It is a given that I would lay down my life for anyone that I am related to. If you know me, you know that is hard for me to say but that it is true. If you know me at all, you also know that I am serious about my definition of friend. ANYONE that is in my life. Yes, there are some friends that mean a great deal more to me than others. Yes, there are those that I keep closer than many others. That does not take away the importance of another person's life to me. Yes, I value my life. Yes, being killed would seriously put a damper on my dreams of watching Vivian graduate from college. I think it may even strain my relationship with my parents if I up and died. The truth is though, they could all always remember that I died for something I believed in. I died so that a friend could live. According to the Bible, that is the greatest kind of love there is. The Bible, people!!!! Do you need a higher authority? I think not. There are those that might say to me, "What if your friends don't feel the same about you?" What kind of question is that? What difference does it make? How they feel about me is not what I will be thinking about in a life or death situation. I will only be thinking of all of the things they did to make my life better in one way or another. Maybe it was a smile everytime they saw me. Maybe it was the memories of certain events or times that we shared. Maybe it was the secrets we kept together that they never told anyone about. Maybe it was their love of their children that tought me how to love. Maybe it was the way their eyes would almost see right through me every time I looked into them. Maybe it was the support they showed when everyone else said I shouldn't do something. Maybe it was the fact that they were there for me when I needed a shoulder. The list of things that my friends have done for me is endless. In a life or death situation, this is what I would be thinking. I would not be concerning myself with what they are thinking. I would merely be thinking of what they mean to me. That's everything. My friends mean everything to me. So, to my friends, Lean on Me, when you're not strong. You can always Stand By Me, because That's What Friends Are For. I hope you all know, You've Got a Friend in Me. Always. Thank you, all.