Comrades

I just re-read a book in preparation for my presentation at the TJEd Forum (see my post from last week.) It is entitled Comrades - Brothers, Fathers, Heroes, Sons, Pals - the author is Stephen E. Ambrose. I listened to this one on audio CD a pair of years ago and loved it. This time I read it in print.

When men share sincere friendship, it takes on a different look and feel than the romantic relationship between a woman and a man. This book is about Ambrose's personal experiences with his father, brothers, and friends, and then his historical perspectives on the subject as it applies to several famous people from history - Lewis & Clark, Eisenhower and his brother, Patton and Eisenhower, Crazy Horse and He Dog, Custer and his brothers. Nixon and...Nixon had no close friends.

It's an easy read, and it reinforces things you've probably always felt.

You think about it, though. Men generally have a small circle of friends. They are more independent, more stand-offish, and generally have approached life from a "figure it out myself" approach. Not all men, but most generally land in that description.

I've got much more to share on that idea, and what to do about it, in my class at the forum.