Hello Friends...

Hello Friends.

I have to change my salutation. “Hello Friends” has opened this intermittently blog pretty consistently, and I also wore the phrase on t-shirts for a time (I had them specially made), but now I shouldn’t do either anymore because of Cosby. Excuse me, I meant to Dr. William H. Cosby Jr. (remember when he used that credit on his show? Relax, Dr. Jr.). Apparently, Bill started putting the phrase on his t-shirts 20 years ago, when his son died. I don’t mean to detract from that tragedy, but my “Hello Friend” impulse didn’t come from that, it’s just something I say to greet amigos. And I certainly don’t think I started putting it on t-shirts because of the Cos, but maybe that’s where I got the idea. Now that Cosby has been identified as a serial rapist, and because every recent photo of Cosby features both his disgusting milky eye and a Hello Friend shirt, it’s time to retire the phrase.

Dream: Come up with a new salutation.

Goal: Achievable. One of the fun, but challenging things I get to do at work sometimes is brand something. When we acquire a new company or product, it falls to our team to come up with a new logo, name, tagline, etc. I start every initial pitch meeting with RazzMaTazz3000, but eventually we come to something more closely aligned with our corporate vision, whatever that means. So who better than me to come up with a new thing that I will say and maybe put on shirts?

Plan: Consider the following alternatives:

How Are You Doing, Buddies?
Helios Friendos
Good morning, Elizabeth (this would only work with friends named Elizabeth who I saw in the morning)
Hi Pals (frontrunner)
Ring A Ding Ding, Champs

I don’t know, I’m just so mad at Bill Cosby. And I’m mad at society at large for ignoring the 42 and counting women raped or assaulted by Bill Cosby. I’m mad that we’re still hedging language around this whole thing, like “alleged assault” or “sexual misconduct.” Rape is rape. Why are we using euphemisms and doublespeak around crimes that deserve no such courtesy? And fine, innocent until proven guilty, but what more evidence do we require here?

It’s hard to believe with all the rotten people running around that we’re not all living in individualized pods in space, sealed off from any and all interaction. But how would we ever get through the rotten stuff without the good people we keep around?

The blog has been dormant most of the summer in part because I’m bazy (busy/lazy, copyright BigCityJames Industries, 2015), and in part because I’ve spent the last few weekends with friends and family in BC, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. I didn’t take time off work, just left on a Friday night and returned on a Sunday, all with the goal of reconnecting with the people that make the Monday to Friday drudgery feel worth it. And it didn’t matter how we said hello to each other, anyhow. If someone’s a true friend, you don’t have to greet them in any way at all.