“We really did have everything, didn’t we?” — Dr. Randall Mindy (Don’t Look Up)
________
According to Dutch sociologist Gerald Mollenhorst (2009), prior to the pandemic we were replacing half of our social network every seven years. Of course that was back in the times when there were many mores social opportunities.
So I wonder how that figure has fared over the past two years. Though many made efforts to reconnect with old friends through group zoom calls and other virtual tools including social media, Covid-19 created a vast social desert. It seems obvious that new relationships were hard to come by for most of us .
Meanwhile, one of the main points in an article in the Atlantic called, “It’s Your Friends Who Break Your Heart,” is that we need our friends now more than ever.
Friend love is often overlooked in our literature and films, but the love provided by friends plays at least as big a role as family in most people’s lives.
Furthermore, a large and growing number of Americans are single and living alone — for them friends constitute family.
I said I wouldn’t watch “Don’t Look Up” twice but I did anyways — the film with Jennifer Lawrence and Leonard DiCaprio about the impending end of the world.
The concluding scene where the main characters gather with a handful of friends for dinner as the killer asteroid closes in on earth is classic, and in many ways relevant to the comments above about friendship, new and old.
Who would you choose to spend your final moments with under such circumstances? Only the most confirmed of hermits would answer that question: “Alone.”
And (s)he would be lying.
TODAY’s HEADLINES (34):
IT’S YOUR FRIENDS WHO BREAK YOUR HEART — The older we get, the more we need our friends—and the harder it is to keep them (Atlantic)
U.K. archaeologists found a drum and three kids locked in a neolithic embrace (WP)
In Reversal, F.D.A. Delays Push for Shots for Children Under 5 (NYT)
VIDEO: W.H.O. Official Says Africa is ‘On Track for Controlling the Pandemic’ (AP)
Waning 2-Dose and 3-Dose Effectiveness of mRNA Vaccines Against COVID-19 (MMWR)
VIDEO: N.Y.C. Firefighter Union Opposes Covid Vaccine Mandate (AP)
Next Covid strain could kill many more, warn scientists ahead of England restrictions ending (Guardian)
Taliban Free 2 Westerners Working for U.N., Days After Quiet Detention (NYT)
Afghans protest US order to give $3.5B to 9/11 victims (ABC)
Afghan central bank says U.S. plan for frozen funds an 'injustice' (Reuters)
Who Blinks First in Ukraine? (New Yorker)
Ukraine tensions: A dozen nations tell citizens to leave Ukraine (BBC)
Russia accuses U.S. of ‘hysteria;’ White House warns attack could come soon (WP)
Puzzle in Ukraine Crisis: Where’s the U.S. Ambassador? (NYT)
Russia Invading Ukraine Will Be Bad News for the U.S., Humanity — As if we didn’t have enough headaches already. (Bloomberg)
Canada border blockade clearing peacefully as police move in (Politico)
State of emergency kicks in as Ottawa braces for third straight weekend of ‘Freedom Convoy’ protests (WP)
On Capitol Hill, a Push to Unionize House Aides Gains Traction (NYT)
Texas counties barred from bringing charges against officials who encourage mail-in voting (The Hill)
15 boxes: Inside the long, strange trip of Trump’s classified records (WP)
Jury weighs if New York Times defamed Sarah Palin or made 'honest mistake' (Reuters)
Scientists examining ancient ice cores have found radioactive evidence of an extreme solar storm that took place in 7,176 BCE. (Sky & Telescope)
NASA space telescope spots most powerful light ever seen on Jupiter, helps solve 30-year-old mystery (Space.com)
Why Musk’s biggest space gamble is freaking out his competitors (Politico)
Seals are dying in droves along South Africa’s coast. What’s killing them remains a mystery. (WP)
Soak up the February sun? Not without climate change guilt in California (Politico)
The New York Times runs Wordle now, and stats are getting m-e-s-s-y (Verge)
The Beatles song John Lennon refused to sing (Far Out)
The Nixon I Saw in the Final Days of the 1968 Campaign (Politico)
Mental health hovers over Olympics, on its way to mainstream (AP)
Teen Girls’ Sexy TikTok Videos Take a Mental-Health Toll (WSJ)
Inflation Jumps 7.5% Before Janet Yellen Realizes She Leaning Against ‘Turbo’ Lever (The Onion)
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