New rules: the lost ar

IN THE days of way back, when friends were friends, the
sky was blue and days were long, when there were things
that a kid could really count on, the sun rose and the sun

set, life was so much simpler.

I had a buddy back then, his
name was Mark, and man, we
were inseparable.

You know how it is when
you’re young, you meet this guy
on the soccer field who can kick
higher and kick farther, a guy

By Red Solar
Contributing Writer

who could teach you a thing or
two, you compliment him, and

you become friends on the spot.

Before you know it, he’s calling
you up to go down to the corner
store and pick up the latest Bat-
man with him. Christmas morning
came around and he was the first
1 called to tell him what I got.
These were the days that we
honestly rejoiced in each other’s
triumphs, and openly admitted
our defeats.

The first time I kissed a girl, he

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This week's question:

Yet another year has slipped by
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Do you make New Year's resolu-
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for 19927

980-KIDS

of ‘buddyship’ —

knew. When his dog died, he told
me. And the day I had to go
away, he was the first to know.

So I moved here and found new
friends, yeah, just like my parents
said { would. I called Mark occa-
sionally, but it was long-distance,
and besides, | had more important
things to do. We soon forgot each
other’s numbers.

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new pastime, going out whip-

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creamin’ cars, walking up and
down Robson, coffee at
Rodin, raising hell at MeDonalie S,
walking down and up Robson,
picking up ‘chicks’, just being a
guy.

Things were tight then, one for
all, all for one, but then we went
and screwed everything up by get-
ting older.

By the time I got to college it
seemed that all of us guys (now
young men) had been con-
taminated by competitiveness.
Things changed. The new motto:
trust no one but y~urself. That’s a
far ery from all for one and one
for all, but it was reality.

Instead of real ‘‘buddyship’’,
helping each other and deriving
deep satisfaction from the
achievement of the other, we were
constantly checking each other
out, looking over each other’s
women to see who had the pret-
tiest, and never being sure if we
could trust even our closest friend .
around an attractive girlfriend.

It’s not that we wanted each
other to fail, but that we couldn’t
stand anyone who got higher on
the ladder, having something we
didn’t, doing something we
weren’t capable of.

And of course, anything dif-
ferent wouldn’t have been ‘‘man-
ly’’; you couldn’t risk getting call-
ed a ‘fag’? by showing that you
were actually a sensitive human
being under all that stubble.

I ran into Mark a few moths
ago. I asked him how he was and
what he was doing. He asked the
same of me. We even exchanged
phone numbers and said we'd call.
But we didn’t. And I know why.

We’re not the two shiny-eyed
kids we used to be. We may have
been buddies a long time ago, but
that just doesn’t wash any more.

It’s really too bad; we've been
so preoccupied with being ‘“*men’?
that sometimes we forget how to

be human.
.

Youth can
form own
opinions

Dear Editor:

As readers of the North Shore
News and young adults of North
Vancouver, we feef it is our right,
and the appropriate time, to sim-
ply say that we feel Doug Collins
has a right to write whatever he
wants.

We don't feel that homosexuali-
ty is filthy and disgusting just
because Doug says so — we have
our own minds to form opinions
regarding such unnatural sex prac-
tices.

However, it is only fair to see
his view allowed in the press, since
other mediums, such as television,
movies and news magazines,
believe it is their duty to promote
their liberal ‘‘values,’? and what
they want us to think is ‘‘natu-
ral.”’

Thank you, North Shore News;
Jet’s hope Doug, and free speech,
live forever!

John Schleimer
Rob Rannard
North Vancouver