Sidetrack: Friendship

Have been busy for sometime. Hence the long pause in postings.
Anyways, here s one sidetrack away from World Class Mentality.
I have been tagged by a friend of my - Ven to post about friendship.
So here goes:

What is friendship anyway? God alone knows the answer. Having been through a roller coaster ride (or was it rides) I no longer place much faith in friendships. This much I admit. Why?

1. There are simply too many fair weather friends. When times are good, they re around. When times are bad, haha, try looking for them and you ll see what I mean.

"People do not appreciate what you did for them in the past.
They ll only appreciate what you can do for them in the future"
- A Don in one of Mario Puzo's books




2. Friendship and money is like oil and water - Michael Corleone Godfather III. Lets not even venture into money!!! To the end, we re all selfish people. If there are no gains to be made, forget it.



There is also an ancient story in China.
Once upon a time in China, the emperor was bored and decided to embark upon a journey to discover the ultimate wisdom in the world. He summonned all his advisors and told them their mission - to find the ultimate wisdom in the world.
His advisors immediately scrambled to find the ultimate wisdom as ordered.
A year later, the advisors compiled the "wisdoms" which they find very true during their era of time. The emperor was submitted with their findings. The emperor, being a light headed fellow with no patience of reading what was the sweat and hardwork of his advisors summonned his advisors again.
"Its too thick to read for my royal eyes. Summarised them" He ordered.
As it was the decree of His Royal Highness, his advisors once again scrambled to carried it out.



One month later, they summarised into a single page and was pretty satisfied with their work.
Yet, again, the Emperor was not satisfied. That Royal (feather-brained) Emperor decreed, "Summarise them yet again."
His advisors were aghast with the decree. How can that be possible!? How on earth!?
What an idiot, we have as an emperor!? I give up!
"But he IS the Emperor!!!"
And during the era, capital punishment of the whole clan was common.
Fearing such dreaded punishment, the advisors have no choice.
Yet, they have no idea or any clue how to carry out their latest decree.
They decided to have lunch in a nearby restaurant.
Then it struck them.
"There is NO free lunch in this world"
Hence it was presented to the Emperor and became the undisputed ULTIMATE wisdom in this world.

For friendship - it is the same. There is NO free lunch. A pure gift of beneficiary? Sorry, unheard of.

For employees of the World Class Mentality - Always ask the objective of the Bossman. This would avoid many unneccessary work (which may not be appreciated anyway)

For Bossman of the World Class Mentality - Be clear to your subordinates of the objective. This would avoid work being done and not meeting the objective. Ultimately, morale of the employees would be affected.


3. People are Superficial. This is a fact. You and I are included.



Imagine you ve found a project which you are 100% sure to yield enormous profits. You were estatic! Excitement rages and nothing else seemed to matter. All you wanted was to call upon your friends and family to share the good news. And everyone was overjoyed for your good fortune. But there was one idiot "friend" of yours that cautioned you on the risks. What would your reaction be? You ll probably defend the project and your "friend" would counter with anohter point of view. "Do not count the chickens before they hatch" he says. "Damn the green-eyed idiot. He doesn't know what he is talking about. He s just jealous he couldn't find a good deal like that himself" That, is the most common reaction.
So, as a friend, what should you have done?
Caution your friend and you ll be in the bad books.
Don't caution and pretend to be supportive of the new project and you ll be manipulative.

TO be popular is easy. Just follow Option 2.
TO be a real friend is difficult. FOllow Option 1 and you ll be in the bad books. But your conscience will be clear at the very least.

The reason is simple: People just want to hear what they wanted to hear.



P/S: The above scenario could also be applied on the new girlfriend or new boyfriend that is not accepted in the friends' clique.


4. Misuse of friendships



This is rampant in the MLM business. Join me in the MLM or we re no longer friends. If you re a real friend, you ll support me. Not morally, but with membership. Together we will be rich beyond our wildest dreams.
Furthermore, Kiyosaki says, "Write down 6 names of whom you spends the most time with. These 6 people are your future."
So now, if these 6 people are not the MLM members, then it is the wrong path!??? So forget it, no more friends if you do not join me.

I ll say, Screw you for trying that shit of a threat. Screw you for trying to manipulate me. Screw you for thinking I am such a stupid bastard to be manipulated and threatened in that fashion.

Screw the "friendship". Its simply not worth it.

Conclusion:
This article is made from the negative point of view on friendship. There are however true friendships out there but they are RARE. Personally, I ve seen both sides before and when I was out on my own, I have a number of friends to thank for their support, either morally, or financially, or for their recommendations and hardwork in helping me to find investors and clients alike.

To my friends, Thank you for being a true friend. The above article has no relevance except that it makes me appreciate you better.





TO my other so-called friends, Thank you for showing me the real world or I would still be living in Fantasia. However, SCREW YOU for trying to SCREW ME.