Sparks from the Fire

A World Of Friends
Here’s a word whose meaning has changed over the last several years – “friends”.  When in the course of human history did people ever keep count of their friends?  Well, we seem to be doing so today.

First MySpace, then Facebook.  At first I laughed at the joke of all this – everybody on this mad dash to collect friends like dollars.  “How many friends do you have?  Oh, are you really that popular?”  Sort of high school revisited…

But then Facebook sort of came along and developed the concept to a higher level.  Rather than just friend counting, it actually gave us the ability to renew old friendships, to catch up, to find related ones.

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I have a new friend. His name is Luigi. He’s 5 years old. He’s growing up in Sao Paulo, Brazil, speaks Portuguese and not one word of English. Well, more on that later. When we were first introduced, he tried to pronounce my name and couldn’t. “Peter.” When I said it the second time he simply burst out laughing with the surprise and wonder of such a funny name. “Peter.”

On the third attempt he got it right and then laughed again in glee at the funny sound. “Peter. Peter. Peter.” He ran around in circles of joy over the humor of such a funny name saying it over and over amid gales of 5 year old guffaws.

As if Luigi isn’t a funny name…

Actually, Luigi is a wonderful name! Luigi, Luigi, Luigi! Say it again and again. An Italian name for a Brazilian boy.

But I digress…

I played with Luigi for about an hour and a half waiting for his parents to finish a meeting. He showed me his two-wheeler bicycle and his helmet which was too small for him. It was also too small for me as I tried it on amid more gales of laughter from Luigi.

When not climbing all over me he ran – up and down the patio, back and forth, for no obvious reason, just to run. Ah, the energy of youth! Then he rode his bicycle — up and down the patio, back and forth, for no obvious reason, just to ride.

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