Strange, isn’t it, how easily people can destroy their friendships…

But is it really that easy, let’s presume there’s something underneath.
A friendship has been ended because one of both feels terribly hurt by the other, by a misjudgement, a misunderstanding, or another grief… To show how horrific this experience is the injured friend wants to make a big, serious gesture, the worst that he can think of, that is by ending the friendship. And suffering from ending it.

In the case of Diderot and Rousseau, after their break they both lived for another twenty five years. Both were well-known men and thus informed about each other’s activities in life. By their letters we know that they never stopped regretting the loss of their friendship, and yet, they never succeeded in repairing this loss.

So I think we do suffer from such deeds like ending a cherished friendship. It shows as well our incompetence, that it is hard to fill up each other’s gaps…

I am constantly amazed at how what appears to be the smallest of matters can breakdown and destroy friendships that have lasted for many years. I have been on the outside looking-in on a number of occasions where this has happened; but thankfully not yet experienced it myself.

It’s almost like a hardwired switch has been operated in the brain and no amount of talking or reasoning is going to make the slightest bit of difference. Why is this?

Stan