For the better part of 30 years, he and I were like brothers. We grew up together, and of course, as people do, went down different paths during our late teens, but ended up reconnecting around 2007-2008. From then on, we would talk just about every day, whether it be via text or while gaming together online. He had always been extremely liberal and progressive, and was actually the one who helped me overcome my biases and bigotry towards the LGBTQ community and helped me see that that was no way to be or think or treat others. I'll always be grateful to him for that, because one of my dearest friends is a trans woman and I never would have had the joy of having her in my life and as my friend if J(abbreviating his name for privacy reasons) had not helped me see the error of my ways. I am quite proud to say that I am now and have been an ally for the last 10-12 years, thanks to him.

However, sometime around the point when Donald Trump was elected president, J lost sight of who he was and it started with him, seemingly out of nowhere, developing this intense and irrational hatred of black people and Hispanic people. He said it was just the ones that live in his apartment complex, because they would play loud music at all times of the night, and yell and fight and keep him from sleeping. Then, it was "n-word" this and "n-word" that(I don't like the word, and I don't want to risk a ban, so I'm not typing it out). I had NEVER known him to use that word towards ANYONE. Even when quoting someone else, he would say "n-word", instead of saying the actual word. I would call him out on it when he would start talking like that, and he'd apologize and stop for a while. But anytime he got angry at his neighbors, it would come out again. I would constantly try and get him to change his behavior. Little did I know, this was just the beginning, apparently, and it would only get worse.

Fast forward to the emergence of COVID-19 and the vaccine, and he had jumped on the, "COVID is a hoax," bandwagon and was saying things like: "The only way they'll ever get me to take the vaccine is if they tie me down and force me," and "The vaccine is going to put tracking chips in you if you take it". And when the talks of a potential vaccine mandate arose, his vitriol only got worse and worse. Every day, he was sending me a news article from right wing news, or a link to a Tim Pool video, or an Alex Jones video, or was always attempting to talk me out of voting third party and into voting for Trump in 2020(I ALWAYS vote third party, and would NEVER vote for Trump, even if my life depended on it). So, when the talks of the potential vaccine mandate arose, he kept sending me articles of people walking out on their jobs, and he would praise them for doing so. And for a while, I let him and just pretended to listen. But eventually, I got tired of it. I asked him, "So when all those people walk out of their jobs, what happens to those of us who act like adults and go to work whether we agree with the mandate or not? All that work that isn't getting done by them because they walked out is going to be added on top of what we already have to do, and that isn't fair to us. I'm all for people exercising their rights as long as those rights don't infringe upon or hamper mine." He proceeded to call me a "fucking narcissist", and said I am clueless about how the world works and that I'll never be anything in this life. Then he blocked me on everything and cut off contact.

I still think about him occasionally. And I hope he's doing well. And I hope he turns things around. It sucks that things ended the way they did, but a year and a half later, I can honestly say that I don't miss him and I think it was for the best that it went the way it did.