Humans are a strange bunch. We are motivated by so many good and bad things. There are people we already know and those that we want to know. Our goals are sometimes long term and sometimes short term. For each purpose, we end up utilizing people one way or another because we are smart enough to realize that who you choose to associate with can make the difference between failure and success in reaching a certain goal. At least that is what we would like to believe.
What people fail to realize is successful people had friendships before they reached the proverbial stage of success. There is a tight circle of bond and relationships that existed before wealth or notoriety discovered them, let alone other people. These can be childhood friends, cousins, sisters, brothers, or just about anyone. It is the real friendship unmotivated by greed or desire that helps them blaze their own trails. It is this friendship that lasts when the wealth and notoriety leaves them as well.
Either you are using people or people are using you. True friends don't do either, and there is dignity in knowing this in every relationship you choose to keep. If you couldn't be real friends with a person outside of your motive, the value of the relationship exponentially deteriorates over time, leaving you with truly much of nothing. It's like fighting a natural law; it just won't have the sustenance needed to maintain the connection nor leave you with much fulfillment. After a while, you'll lose interest and energy for trying to essentially 'force' a relationship, or worse, they will just tire of you.
So keep the following question in a back pocket and bring it out once in a while: Would you still be friends with someone if you weren't related by blood or driven by a motive?
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