What do you think?

[lucille]

This was just now sent to me from a friend on Fauna. She is a wise person and so I thought it would be good to share.

I think y'all are high quality people. I think I made the right choice, joining this community, and I appreciate the insights and info.....

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My head is full of profound things people have said to me and I just have to share one of the things I feel was a powerful statement... this was said to a youth group...

(not an exact quote)

"It is human nature to try to emulate the people you respect and spend your time with. If you choose to make friends of people who are making wrong choices, you will respect and admire and emulate those wrong choices. If you surround yourself with people of the highest quality, you can only strive to emulate those people. Since the choice begins with YOU and who YOU hang out with, make that choice the best one possible, and you can never go wrong".

[krept]

interesting, reminds me of a song that goes "find someone who's turning and you will come around..."

what I think might important to note IMO that nobody is perfect and perhaps we can find bad and good attributes to each person. If we are attracted to a particular attribute, be it bad or good, that is probably the one that we want to emulate.

Funny example, true to life, is my brother in law. The guy loves creativity but just doesn't create. So what did he do? Turned his flat into an art studio and surrounds himself with artists and musicians. Like them, he doesn't have enough money to cover rent and usually has an empty fridge... but he has a good soul and helps everyone out as best he can. Now there are two different aspects to him, one bad ("slacker") and the other good (caring) so it's a tough call.

I've known a lot of people and I haven't yet met one who doesn't have a VERY positive attribute to them as well as some significant flaw.

The key point would probably be to surround yourself with someone that is making a positive CHANGE in their life that is similar to the aspect you want to emulate so you can work together, versus being a sink... I mean... if there is a sad person wanting to be happy and this person seeks a positive attitude, wouldn't the happy person perhaps not want to be around the sad person?

don't know if that ramble makes sense :)

[SatCong]

Conventional wisdom would pose it as "Lie with dogs, rise-up with fleas."
Like most conventional wisdom, it is... (wise, i.e.)
SatCong

[Ratsinthegravyredux]

"It is human nature to try to emulate the people you respect and spend your time with. If you choose to make friends of people who are making wrong choices, you will respect and admire and emulate those wrong choices. If you surround yourself with people of the highest quality, you can only strive to emulate those people. Since the choice begins with YOU and who YOU hang out with, make that choice the best one possible, and you can never go wrong".

This view doesn't seem to hold much hope for the individual to make his own choices past a certain point. It also would appear to 'package deal' the two categories 'people you respect' and 'people you spend time with'.

[Aslan]

My interpretation is somewhat different, emulation is based on your perception of others. Perception means it is colored with your thoughts and experiences.

But society arose because groups of people shared similar value systems - just look at all the different groups that settled this country.

Look at neighborhoods that are very much one ethnic make up.

People hang with people that share their beliefs or norms.

we could spend a lifetime on this one topic.

There are people out there that get PHD's on explaining this behavior.

:devil: