The acquisition of friends and enemies

The acquisition of both friends and enemies are rites of passage for every human being that wants to live a life of a door-kicker. By door-kicker, I mean that sort of person who wants to explore, go first, give it a go, ignore the advice of others and find out for him or herself.

It is probably an easy enough matter to go through life without having made any enemies; but such a life was probably one spent without having held strong opinions, strong convictions or without having ever taken a stand. A grey life. Not the sort of life I would choose for myself.

Ultimately, in my view at least, we should all hold opinions; we should be prepared to defend those opinions; we should stand for our beliefs. Of course, we should also be open to argument and be willing to adopt new ideas and reform our opinions as we gather more information from the world around us and from others who inhabit it.

Someone who agrees with everyone, stands for nothing. Think, read, talk, debate, learn and ponder … the tapestry you weave is an unfinished project, as long as you yet draw breath.

- JBW