All tagged The value of friends

Time Away From Old Friends...

Time Away From Old Friends...

Omer Abdullah
Aspirations, Life, Personal Codes, Teams

The song “Born To Run” is probably one of, if not THE, most popular Bruce Springsteen songs ever. Written in 1974 and released in 1975, the song became famous as much for its lyrics as its “wall of sound”. Ostensibly, it’s a love song that, at its core, is about a young man’s desire to get out of Freehold, New Jersey, but, really, it’s about our desire for freedom, our passions and going after whatever we believe in.

It’s one of the most played songs by The Boss and it’s highly unlikely that anyone reading this hasn’t at least heard of the song. In fact, particularly in the days before digital media, when live radio was in its prime

The Thing About Relationships (Part 2)

The Thing About Relationships (Part 2)

Omer Abdullah
Careers, Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Life, Personal Codes

In my last post, I included an excerpt from a post by David Whyte that spoke to how enduring friendships are based on a measure of forgiveness and an acceptance of our own imperfections.

That same post also spoke to how our friendships act as a window into our lives:

“The dynamic of friendship is almost always underestimated as a constant force in human life: a diminishing circle of friends is the first terrible diagnostic of a life in deep trouble:

The Thing About Relationships (Part 1)

The Thing About Relationships (Part 1)

Omer Abdullah
Life, Personal Codes, Teams

I’ve been thinking about the idea of relationships and, in particular, what makes a particular relationship enduring versus one that’s not. It’s a subject that’s been on my mind a lot lately as I’ve considered my own relationships over the years - both close and otherwise - to better understand what is it that has made some of them stick and others not. In particular, what makes for a “good friend”? 

Friends

Friends

Omer Abdullah
Life, Personal Codes

It feels like I’m at that age where the loss of family and friends I’ve grown up with is becoming less and less of a rarity. People who have been instrumental, in ways large and small, to how I’ve grown up, what I’ve learnt, what I believe. 

This past weekend, we lost one of our closest family friends, a man my family affectionately referred to as Malik Uncle. He was someone my father befriended early on, when we moved to Hong Kong (when I was still very young). His wife was an important influence in our lives, and his three sons became close friends with my brothers and I. We all grew up together, never living more than a few blocks apart until our late teens.