Today I lost two friends.

[fpb]

One, I do not know why. Another, I do: because, underneath the left-wing posturing, there is an innate respect for temporal authority (perhaps a national feature, and at any rate an obvious one for someone who believes in no world but this) that means that, in any conflict between the small guy and the big guy, this person's loyalty will be to the Powers That Be. We already had a lot of debates about it, but some recent events have shown that I cannot rely even on this so-called friend's neutrality when I actually need it. Two people for whom I, myself, would have done a lot. It is unbearably painful, but at present it seems inevitable.