-Al Cunningham
I don’t have to tell you this. You already know that the company you keep, the kind of people you hang out with plays a major role in determining your future. We know that generally, there are exceptions to every rule, but those are few and far between.
It is true that if you lie down with the dogs you will wake up with fleas. If you keep the company of people who thirst for knowledge, eventually that will rub off on you and you will be better for it. Hang out with people of good character and you will learn morals that will sustain you throughout life.
Education is important in everybody’s life. If your friends don’t have value education, studying, going to school and making good grades, chances are very good that you won’t value these things either. Then you will be a failure in life no matter how intelligent you are. Notice drugs users hang together, so do drug dealers, drunks, hustlers and thieves. There is an old age saying that states, “birds of the same feather flock together.”
It is important that people be highly selective in choosing their friends and people they intend to hang with. I don’t know this to be the truth, but it appears to me that it is easier for the bad to influence the good, then it is the other way around. If this is true and you by nature are a good person bad friends will change you. Anything you don’t want to be or do, then don’t associate with people who do those things.
Use the eagle for an example. Eagles don’t hang out with chickens. In fact, the only friend of an eagle has is another eagle. The eagle is a proud and stately looking bird. The eagle appears to have a steel trap mind. It knows what it wants to do. The eagle follows no one except its prey. The eagle follows as you can, some goals for yourself to achieve. Then select your friends based upon common interests, established goals and desires to truly want to lead a productive life.
I say to you all, show me your friends and I will show you your future. If your friends have no pride, no self-respect, no goals for their lives and not one of them is responsible, get rid of them immediately. They aren’t good for themselves and they sure aren’t good for you.
Your goal should be and must be as they say in the army, “be all that you can be!” One last note to remember, most people pattern their behavior for those who’s approval they are seeking!