Friend or Foe
Consider your best friend. Are they a good person? Are they bad? Would they pick up trash on the side of the road? Or would they throw some out of their car window just to save themselves from walking a few feet to the trash can? Friends are for support and to make you smile, they are supposed to be there for you even through the hardest times, they are supposed to make you a better person. Sometimes, doing so, can change who you are as a person. Statistics from “The Incremental Life” show that the more time you spend with a person, the more like them you start to act.
This might be because they are repeatedly surrounded by people who have a certain trait to act a certain way around others. With them doing it all the time, your mind thinks it is normal to act this way. It is like how children usually act the way their parents did, when they become parents of their own. It is the only example they know how to follow, or one that they see through much of their time. This can make their mind feel like it is normal.
Because others react to their friends doing something good or bad, they can learn from their friends example. This can be very helpful for people or can make their whole life upside down. People who love to learn, will grow if they are surrounded by others who also love to learn. For someone who doesn’t like to learn, and is hanging out with others that do, they may feel obligated to try and learn, so they don’t feel left out of what everyone else has in common. When others are doing good in one subject, they may try to be good in that too, making them work harder to do better. But, the same happens for someone who is good, and surrounds themself by people who are mean.
They may see that one person in the group picks on another person, and get high fives, and cheers. They may feel bad, but notice it is “good” for them, to be mean, others find it “cool.” This is similar to band wagon because when a lot of people are doing one thing, it makes the others in the group want to do it too. After leaving these groups, they may keep around the same habits, and spread them off to others. They may be liked or unliked for that trait and can cause problems later in life.
I have experienced both of these situations. When I was younger, I surrounded myself by people who made me laugh. The biggest thing that we all had in common, was what we didn’t like. We would point out things we thought were bad or looked ugly. We would spend most of our time criticizing others and other things, other than sharing what we all enjoyed to each other. One day, I, was criticized by my friends for something.
They laughed, but I didn’t find it funny. This made me realize how we were treating others. I didn’t like how we made other people feel, so I left the group. Now, I hang out with people who make me want to try harder. Some of my friends are smarter than me, so I try to do what they do and use their techniques. My friends are also very nice, and make me try to be a little nicer every day.
When I first started hanging out with them, I brought in some of the bad traits my old friends brought in. But, eventually, I learned from my friends and became nicer. It is good for me because I can create goals I want to achieve, and achieve it. Maybe people should try to surround themselves with people they pursue to be. Will it help them reach their goal? Will it show them different views of the world? They might start to realize different things and make themselves better people in the process.
