One day, Bush and Rumsfield were having a drink in a bar. Another man walked in and he noticed these two guys. So he thought this is a good opportunity just to meet them in a bar like that. He walked up to their table and asked, “Hey guys, what are you doing?” “We are planning World War III,” said Bush. “What is that for?” asked the man. “We want to kill 10 million Iraqis and one bicycle repair man,” said Rumsfield. “Why a bicycle repairman?” asked the man. Rumsfield said to Bush with a big beam on his face, “I had told you nobody would bother about the 10 million Iraqis”. So that’s friendship.
Friend v/s guru
You’re always making friends among those who support your way of thinking, feeling, understanding, liking, disliking, isn’t it? So all you are seeking is some supporting substance for whatever nonsense you have made out of yourself. It is in this way that being with a guru is different.
He [a guru] is your friend, but he’s somebody who constantly pulls your ego down and dances upon it. Normally, if anybody touches your ego, your friend turns into an enemy. So now all we have done is set up a condition where we can dance on your ego and still it’s okay, still you’re a friend.
What is a true friend?
If you are a friend to somebody, you don’t have to nag them with what’s wrong with them; at the same time, you must have the courage to be unpopular with people. In just trying to be popular with people, just see how many stupid things you’re doing with your life.
In just trying to maintain some kind of pleasantness around you, see how much unpleasantness you have buried within you. If you bury unpleasantness, if you put seeds of unpleasantness into the soil you will reap fruits of unpleasantness, isn’t it?
The more and more unpleasantness you bury within yourself, you will reap a fruit like that. You must have the courage, if you really have a friend, you must have the courage to be unpopular with your friend, and still be loving with him. Right now, your friendships are always made on agreements, likes and dislikes. A true friend is somebody who has the courage to tell you what nonsense you are, and still be loving and nice to you.
Real friends have real courage
On a certain day, three generals from the US Army met. They were on a tour of the Grand Canyon, along with their troops for some exercise. They met and the first general bragged about the courage and the spirit of obedience in his battalion.
“There’s no other battalion like mine. The level of courage and obedience is so high. real courage. Let me show you an example,” he said. “PRIVATE PETER,” he boomed and private Peter came running, “Yes, Sir”. “You see this”, said the general pointing at the Grand Canyon, “I want you to just take a leap across the canyon, NOW!” The man just ran, full speed and took off, obviously you know where he landed; smashed himself to death. Then the second general laughed and said, “That’s nothing, you see this one”. “TROOPER HIGGENS,” he yelled.
“YES SIR,” said Higgens doubling up. “I want you to fly, I want you to fly. It’s an emergency; I want you to fly and go across the canyon and inform my officer there about this.” The man flapped his hands and you know what happened.
The third general just kept quiet. “What about yours?” said the other two, nudging him. And they laughed saying, “no courage”. Some of the third general’s men were loitering around. “Hey you,” he said to one of them. “Look at that down below, a swirling quick-moving stream—a river, which is just two hundred meters from a steep waterfall. I want you take this message to the headquarters, take this cannon, and cross the river and go.”
The guy looked down and said, “General, it looks like you’ve been on your whiskey once again. I’m not going to do such a damn stupid thing”. The third general said, “See, this is real courage”. So be a little more courageous in your friendships. Be ready to lose them, it’s okay. At least if you care, you must do what’s good for the other not for yourself, isn’t it?