A friend is one who knows you and loves you just the same. – Elbert Hubbard
I have long been a fan of Irish rock music. Many Irish arrived here in New Zealand to have a better life during the famine years, so every family in New Zealand probably has a touch of Irish.
New Zealand is similar to Ireland in terms of amount of people and island culture. People living on islands with small populations know that everyone they meet will know them or their family or town. You can’t hide and if you are the child of a celebrity you are in the fishbowl whether you want to be or not.
While I was listening to some music one day, I began to wonder what life was like for a child growing up on the inside of the circus that is a modern rock band tour.
You get a glimpse sometimes of what life can be like through some documentaries and in books about bands, but where does the line blur between Dad and Rock Star?
Jordan Hewson*, when she was 15, once commented to an interviewer: ‘When I was four I'd already met everybody, it’s so not a big deal.’
Having money can protect you from ever having to face normal life, but what if you never knew if your friends were really friends or just wanted to hang out with you as a status symbol? When having you as a friend was a badge of coolness?
I often cringe when I see magazine articles revealing secrets of the stars told by their friends. I wonder what kind of friend would screw up a friendship by revealing what ‘stars’ ate for breakfast...and that’s when Tressa popped into my head to tell me that it gets worse than that.
Perhaps you can hide who you are on the internet, but everybody needs at least one unconditional friend.
In 2005 the band U2 wrote a song for their daughters called ‘Original Of The Species’ about growing up and wondering who you are. I like to think that it’s a comment on friendship as well.
(*child of Paul Hewson, aka Bono of U2)
