The other day, my eyes happened to fall on a Q&A with David Mamet in Vanity Fair.
What is the quality you most like in a man? Steadfastness.
What do you most value in your friends? Loyalty.
What is your motto? Be Prepared.
These struck me as the answers of an Unevolved Male*, and largely fear-based. I mean, can't you just feel the fortress being built in this collection of values?
Victoria, what do you value most in your friends?
Truth.
Refined perceptions.
Humor. - I love, love, love laughing hard with friends.
Wisdom.
Depth.
Insight.
Wide-angle smarts, including emotional intelligence.
Spiritual awareness.
I could go on and on and on before I got close to anything approximating loyalty. But then, I value what I enjoy in my friends - their fine qualities in service to themselves - and the dynamic back and forth of the meeting of our energies, not what I want them to owe me in the event of... some booga-booga.
Of course, the George Bush White House, with its premium on LOYALTY! - "Here's yer commutation, Scooter!" - over pretty much everything else - truth... wisdom... depth... - has been my royal education in certain red flag warnings of the immature male.
Tragically, George didn't embrace that Boy Scout oath as well.
* Author and radio host Caroline Casey would no doubt say The Unitiated Male, which is probably more on point.
