Episode 94: The Company You Keep

"Walk with the wise and become wise, for a companion of fools suffers harm."

                                                -Proverbs 13:20 (NIV)

   Ah yes, friends. The people you meet and think "I like this one. I would like to spend fun times with this one." It's good to have friends.

  One of the biggest parts of friendship is the impact they can have on you as a person. One of the most significant factors in what molds us as a person is the company we keep. I know and will admit that I have changed, both for the better and for the worse, because of the friends I've had over the years. 

   My friends, especially in high school, made my humor a little sus sometimes and got me a little edgier than I'd like to admit. But I've also had friends who contributed beneficially to my sense of humor and played a big part in crafting me to be as funny as I am today. And yes, I just described myself as funny. But everyone says I'm funny, so I think it's fair that I call myself funny.

   I've also had and still have Christian friends whose presence and influence have helped strengthen my faith and helped me grow closer to God. They also help me to a better person in general, as when I'm around them I'm much less likely to say bad words and make R-rated jokes.

   

   But, there is also company that you don't really choose, namely family and coworkers. A child can't choose who he came from, who his parents and siblings and other family members are. And family members can be awful people (thankfully for me, not mine). A lot of bad people blame their nature on their upbringing. Maybe their dad was a drunk who hit them when he was angry, or maybe their mom was never home because she would rather party than pay attention to her children. I'm glad that I can't relate, but I feel genuine sorrow and sympathy for those who do. 

   I'm not a psychologist, so I'm not gonna pretend to be an expert on this stuff. But my understanding and position is that a negative upbringing can make you a bad person but it's not an excuse to be one. You can rise up from the state you were brought up in and be a good person even if you were brought up around bad people. 

   As for coworkers - a lot of people say that the people you work with make or break a job. I agree with that. Thankfully, at my job that I'm incredibly grateful for, the vast majority of my coworkers are great people, and I love some of them (in a platonic way). Some of my best friends are my coworkers. 

   Coworkers can make you love your job, but they can also make you hate it. I know firsthand what it's like to hate your job, from past jobs. I don't wanna get much into it, but during the worst job I've ever had, a big part of why I hated it so much was because I didn't really like my coworkers. One of two of them were alright, in fact my immediate boss was awesome. But the others were hard to be around and made an already disliked job more unbearable for me.

   So I guess the moral of the story is to be wise in choosing who your friends are. And I guess don't let negative behaviors and actions of any friends, family, or coworkers morph you negatively. 

Anyway, see you next week!