There is an old Chinese saying that says ' people that goes near one who stays near vermilion gets stained red, and one who stays near ink gets stained black'. Meaning that one takes the behavior of one's company. Growing up, my dad (my brilliant dad whom I never give enough credit to) would always tell me how I need to make friends that are better than me (another Chinese saying that I can't remember at the moment). He would tell me that I need friends that I can learn from, instead of friends that I just have a good time with. I never understood it. To me, my friends are my friends - they are precious to me and I shouldn't weight our friendship based on how capable they are. I hated that he was so shallow and couldn't appreciate them. So I disregarded his words.
Years later, in a my college dorm room thousands of miles away from home, I heard Will Smith preach a similar message. He said something along the lines of 'if you want to know what kind of person someone is, all you have to do is look at their friends'. Somehow Will Smith's words put what my dad's been trying to tell me all my life in perspective, and I finally understood how important it is to be surrounded by people that you can look up to, to befriend people that you not only have a good time with but also respect because they have something valuable for you to learn. At the end of the day, what good are friends if they can't build each other up and open windows and doors for each other?
About a month ago, I read this on Jaeson Ma's blog and #35 (If people of excellence do not surround them) stuck out like a Vivienne Westwood creation. How blatantly beautiful and true! Friends are so important that a relationship deserves a second thought just because of it! You are who your friends are and if they're not great then you're not so great either!
Ever since then, I've been obsessed with finding these 'people of excellence'. People that I can oooo, ahhh, and awww over; people that inspire me to become better; people that trigger new ideas, so on so forth. Whether it is in real life, on Twitter, or even just reading a good book - I hope that by surrounding myself with these people(and great minds), I will one day be a person of excellence to someone else and inspire great things in them too.
Years later, in a my college dorm room thousands of miles away from home, I heard Will Smith preach a similar message. He said something along the lines of 'if you want to know what kind of person someone is, all you have to do is look at their friends'. Somehow Will Smith's words put what my dad's been trying to tell me all my life in perspective, and I finally understood how important it is to be surrounded by people that you can look up to, to befriend people that you not only have a good time with but also respect because they have something valuable for you to learn. At the end of the day, what good are friends if they can't build each other up and open windows and doors for each other?
About a month ago, I read this on Jaeson Ma's blog and #35 (If people of excellence do not surround them) stuck out like a Vivienne Westwood creation. How blatantly beautiful and true! Friends are so important that a relationship deserves a second thought just because of it! You are who your friends are and if they're not great then you're not so great either!
Ever since then, I've been obsessed with finding these 'people of excellence'. People that I can oooo, ahhh, and awww over; people that inspire me to become better; people that trigger new ideas, so on so forth. Whether it is in real life, on Twitter, or even just reading a good book - I hope that by surrounding myself with these people(and great minds), I will one day be a person of excellence to someone else and inspire great things in them too.
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