Christmas and the New Year, every year, remind me to get in touch with old friends which, as I get older, becomes more important to me. Sure, I have new friends, younger than I am. Some in fact are very much younger. But I really miss the old ones. At my age, most of them are gone but I keep in touch religiously with the very few that are left. I made a video encouraging people to contact old friends. With the internet today, you can actually find them. It’s a little harder with women if you don’t know their married name but you can even find them with a little effort. I emphasized not to wait too long or you’ll find their obituaries instead of making contact. Time has a way of flying by. Some time back, a close friend sent me this poem which I’ll pass on in the way of encouragement not to put it off. It’s called “Jim Died Today” and was written by an American writer Ken Nesbitt.
Around the corner I have a friend, In this great city that has no end.
Yet days go by, and weeks rush on, and before I know it, a year has gone.
And I never see my old friend’s face. For life is a swift and terrible race.
He knows I like him just as well. As in the days I rang his bell.
And he rang mine. We were younger then. And now we’re busy, tired men.
Tired with playing a foolish game. Tired with trying to make a name.
Tomorrow, I say, I’ll call on Jim. Just to show that I’m thinking of him.
But tomorrow comes and tomorrow goes. And the distance between us grows and grows.
Around the corner – and yet miles away… Here’s a telegram, sir, “Jim died today.”
And that’s what we get, and deserve in the end. Around the corner, a vanished friend.
