There’s an epidemic of loneliness in our culture and I suspect it’s partly because we set so much store on romance and have forgotten the beauty of deep, committed friendship.
The reason a story like The Lord of the Rings continues to resonate is because the men in those books express a devotion to each other that has come to be seen as “cringe,” but which we all quietly yearn for.
I wish we would stop saying “just friends,” as if romantic relationships were superior. Life is so much more rewarding when you stop seeing other people as prospective sexual partners and discover the joys of deep friendship.
@SketchesbyBoze These bonds are everything. Exemplified in LOTR. But it's what makes trailer park boys loved by so many. Sure there's comedy, violence, drugs, insanity, but the show would be very mediocre if it didn't revolve around the tight bond and love the three main characters have
@SketchesbyBoze Wow, I feel really bad for the people who see the relationships in that story as cringe. For my friends and me, it’s always been held as the highest ideal, and it has fundamentally formed our lives.
@SketchesbyBoze It's amazing to see old photos (like, sepia and metal back old) with groups of men holding hands, sitting in each others' laps, etc, because toxic masculinity hadn't sunk its teeth into them, yet.
@SketchesbyBoze Rare are the opportunities to forge deep friendships. Work colleagues are in competition. School chums move away. Neighbors come and go.
@SketchesbyBoze The male friendship expressed LOTR is devoted and passionate and intimate without ever becoming romantic or sexual and I think that a lot of men are really deprived of that, and it's messing them/us up.