Now my friend has a great sense of humor and I reckoned I best respond to it with humor:
'Ah, right. Let's see. Do what you love. Be highly demanding of high quality of company in your life and never, ever, compromise on qualitative relationships. Never skip breakfast. Call your parents often. Don't start up a fight in the evening and don't go to bed angry. You know, the usu.
Dude, your hair looks weird today. Switched shampoos? So, what are you ordering?'
Subsequently, we both laughed as the end of the chunk was as a good a way to finish my bit as any and while I thought I'd just make a joke out of the question, I ended up giving a candid reaction.
I feel strongly about the importance of rooted sociality as, I find, it relates to much else of significance in life. When speaking with a younger family member I waxed philosophical again and apparently observed the following: 'When you make new friends, the first question you need to ask yourself is: Are they going to help me become a better version of myself? If not, that's why language has terms like: neighbor, colleague, riding buddy, acquaintance, someone I run into when I pick up my cleaning, my significant other's friend, my brother's best pal, friends, pals, buds, et al. ' To my surprise, the younger family member did not gift me with a rolling of the eyes. Instead what I got was: 'Yeahl Like so-and-so is fun but I wouldn't say we're like good friends, you know?'
"I know."
My poet grandfather used to say: 'Tell me who you go with and I'll tell you who you are.' And I believe that fully, too. Most certainly not out of familial obligation but out of sensible sincerity. I am of the thought that qualitative living is predicated upon conscienteous screening and careful examination of the quality of company in our dealings.
An examined existence is a qualitative existence and it needs to be preserved unapologetically. Call it a life philosophy, if you will. Tell me who you go with, I'll tell you who you are.
Bamber, an excellent blogger over at Prettier than Napoleon, writes:
"How involved do you get with your friends' lives? Do you support them in their time of trouble with a "there, there"? Take their side against all comers? Become emotionally invested in their struggles with third parties? I have a friend whose partner tired of her discussing the trials and travails of various friends and their drama, and sometimes I wonder if I too am too consumed with the interpersonal struggles of others. Does that consumption show that you're relatively caring and empathetic? Or is it just a waste of mental energy?"
Now, to answer Bamber's questions, I am of the opinion that involvement in friends' lives needs to be in accordance with the kind of intimacy and familiarity you mutually share. I believe in a hierarchy of emotional investment which is congruent with the level of intimacy that's bestowed upon the people in that hierarchy.
Being highly discriminative of one's emotional efforts and where they go is, to me, a sign of human maturity.
At least I hold this to be true.
Tip of the hat to Bamber for the food for thought.
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