I think the author is trying to mix a eulogy and class based politics like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alo

I think the author is trying to mix a eulogy and class based politics like https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bowling_Alone But I fail to see the message from this article. He mentions many ways to potentially "save" his friend in the world of class based politics and not just being used as "pawns", but never talks about the regret of not being in constant contact with them over the 20+ years of corporate life and chain smoking since they parted ways.