As a kid, I had friends, people I knew just at school, people at school who I disliked, cousins, and parents. Typically, parents were, well, parents and cousins were family you had to be nice to. Friends were people to transgress my life in and outside of school, and well the other two groups are pretty self explanatory. Later on in life, and even today, while I do know a lot of people, I am not sure my friends really eclipse the number of fingers on my hands – maybe I am the exception and not the rule?
I know a couple people, however, who consider 20 or 30 people to be their friends, and I wondered how that many people can be so close to a single person, and how that single person could handle so many people, so close to their life. The answer was grouping. The grouping can define who the closest friends are (people that can go into the corn), people who are talented, smart, or can be depended on (people on a heist team), and finally, those who could be considered expendable but are kept for sentimental purposes (people who are essentially worthless).
People you can take into the corn: In many apocalyptic films, people are forced to flee population centers and learn how to live off the land; thus the meaning of “Going into the corn.” People useful in the corn are friends with an unhealthy number of weapons, mechanical skills, gardening or farming skills, construction skills, and hunting skills. These people are friends because they can comfort and protect you in times of need, apocalypse or not.
People on your heist team: these people generally fill the role of one of the 11-15 people central to the roles in the “Ocean’s 11” series of films. These people can also go into the corn, but it depends on situations. Imagine if you knew someone with an aversion to killing bugs, but is a very good con man. This person could help you pull off a heist, but he wouldn’t last long in the corn. These people are friends because they help you out of jams and it is much better to be on their side than be opposed to them.
Worthless people: this can vary from people that are despised in your life to people who serve no potential purpose on a heist team or in the woods, but are friendly otherwise, to people you have known all your life, but have no skills, talents, or other discernable abilities. Most office acquaintances in this category, and the idiots at the grocery store that think a jar of spaghetti sauce needs its own plastic bag. Unfortunately these people will most likely outlive us all.
The point of these groups is not to disparage, label or represent one group as better than another, but as a personal check of, “Who are my friends, and why?”
- Do you have too many people who drag you down?
- Do you have friends that help you out, but couldn’t survive on their own?
- Do you have friends who may be socially inept, but have skills that are extremely useful?
- Do you use these people unfairly (i.e., What category do you fall into)?
Whether or not you group your friends in to similar or non-similar groups, grouping friends based on talent can be an interesting exercise in determining why people are friends, and possibly determining why you keep them as friends.
My 10 friends, interestingly, could collectively pull off a heist and go into the corn… maybe having a few friends isn’t too bad.
No comments:
Post a Comment