CHALLENGING EACH OTHER IN FRIENDSHIP

~ Billy

Billy learns from the side.

No cheating. Win or lose enjoy the togetherness and the Tics & Tacs.

Billy has two SPECIAL FRIENDS, James and Stephen, who seem to enjoy challenging each other intellectually via emails. See their latest correspondence below.

James:

Hello Stephen,

We have no way to know whether the human brain has risen above nature.  Porpoises may be more intelligent…they just do not have opposable thumbs with which to build weapons.  There may be thousands of more intelligent species somewhere off Earth.  It may be that our brains are not above nature at all…rather they may be a cancer on nature. 

Function does not, in my view, require purpose…only output. 

I just enjoy the meanderings of my brain and the compatible meanderings of those whom I count as friends. That’s plenty enough for me.  

Your friend, James

Stephen:

James,

You have exposed me to many ideas and knowledge and brought me along on my personal quest.

Two minds crossing paths in 1990s and lately in 2020s are not coincidental only in my sentiment. It is happier to think that there is a purpose as well as an output, or so I imagine and prefer. 

Cheers to our friendship!

Stephen

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Billy’s Observation:

Ultimately it’s the FRIENDSHIP we all value.

FRIENDSHIP AT U.S.-China People’s Friendship Association      

~ Billy

By Billy Lee – Member of USCPFA-South Bay – October 2022 

Started with Joining & Connecting with Hope.

Hope for simply forming Mutual Good Feelings.

Affection grew with Goodwill and Good Efforts.

Trust developed from mini collaborations.

Working together proved much more Meaningful.

Bonding became evermore Enduring.

Real Friendship has its Magic.

Hope, Trust, and Dedication for the Long Term .

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Lived by Love. –  from  Rick Hanson, PhD    

~ Billy

news@rickson.net – copied by Billy October, 2020


Explicitly, this practice means coming from love in a broad sense – from compassion, good intentions, self-control, warmth, finding what to like, caring, connecting, and kindness.

Implicitly and more fundamentally, this practice means a relaxed opening into the love – in a very very broad sense – that is the actual nature of everything.

Be a Friend – Live by Love – Billy Learned

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SINCERE APOLOGIES to GAGE AND LEXI           from Yeh Yeh

~ Billy

By Billy Lee  October 4, 2022

Dear Gage and Lexi,

I owe you a BIG APOLOGY. I sincerely apologize for THE WAY I YELLED at you

last week when you placed your feet on the dining table. I did not need to get ANGRY.

I should not have yelled like a BULLY.  I was inconsiderate, unthoughtful, unwise, and

need to correct such improper quick eruptions. I better try to learn more from Nai Nai on

how to be a more LOVING Grand Parent.

I do care about you kids deeply and look forward to your coming to dinner again soon.

Love, Yeh Yeh

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Billy’s Reflection:

After I emailed this letter above, I felt really good – really happy that I was able to

Apologize Graciously.  I think I learned to do this from my Andover-Yale Classmate,

George Rider, who recently wrote a gracious letter to apologize to another old

Classmate after 70 years.  Apologies definitely release much stress, guilt, and

shame. Hopefully, it will patch up good feelings afterward.

I also wondered how we can best control our uncalled-for ERUPTIONS and UPSETS.

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TREES ARE OUR FRIENDS LIKE NO OTHER SPECIES                                                   

~ Billy

Two paragraphs Billy copied from Henry Shukman’s article, “Tree of Wisdom”. 2022 Shukman, author of The Lost City, teaches at Mountain Cloud Zen Center in Santa Fe, New Mexico

Trees are our natural environment. They are our friends like no other species.

Warmth in winter, shade in summer, said the poet Alexander Pope, of trees’ gifts

to humanity. Where people are, trees are. Many cities are filled with trees. Some

even look like woodland from the air. For thousands of generations, trees have

provided people with windbreaks, shade, shelter, fire, and one of the primary

fabrics of our dwellings.

Trees are our closest neighbors. There are dogs, cats, cows, and other

domestic animals with whom some of us live, and there are our cousins like

the chimpanzee with whom we don’t usually live. On the other hand, pretty

much all people live with trees.

Just a photo of Trees – no word –                                                                                                                         ‘HELLO’ from Old Friend, Betty Wei Liu – Oct. 2022

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