July 27, 2014　=========
☆ acquaintance　　知人
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Have you read the book about the top 5 regrets of the dying? I haven’t read the book, but the list can be found on the Internet, and number 4 is “I wish I had stayed in touch with my friends.” This is something that my dad said too, before he died last year. I think it is probably especially true for men who work all their lives and then retire and realize that all their “friends” are actually acquaintances they used to work with.
This is what happened to my dad, after retirement, he kept in touch with his work colleagues, but as time passed they saw less of each other and they became more like acquaintances that sent Christmas cards each year.
These days I guess it is easier to keep in touch with social media and things like Facebook keeping us connected, but is this real friendship or just acquaintances? One of my “real” friends whom I would say I am very close to has thousands of Facebook friends, so I wonder if she is really my “close” friend or not, since we live in different countries now. How do you keep in touch with your friends and make sure that they don’t just become old acquaintances?
Bye,
Chris
Ps. You can find the Japanese version of this book on Amazon.co.jp, it’s called「死ぬ瞬間の５つの後悔」by Bronnie Ware