How we choose our friends

I was noticing the other day that my irate Bank of America post was still at the forefront of my blog. I knew that I had to change that or else someone might think that I am a bitter person. Besides, Bank of America has since changed their overdraft policy as I found out recently. I'm glad that I was a part of the backlash.

Have you ever thought about how you become friends with certain people? For instance, you can be in a big group setting and be able to interact with everyone, but you'll gravitate to certain types of people. Why is that? You can probably force yourself to be around other types that you don't naturally jive with, but in an ideal environment, you'll be attracted to certain people.

I think part of how you choose friends has to do with the early beginnings: the family and the people that surround you early on in life. I think you are attracted to characteristics and personality traits that these people find attractive. But family is only one part, in my humble opinion (Note: my opinion in this entire post is very humble because I have no formal experience with psychology or sociology so take this with a grain of salt). Next you might wonder about how you choose friends that are very much different from your family. Part of the answer may lie in who chooses you early on in life. You then get comfortable with these types of familiar personalities and they stick with you.

In sum, I believe it all boils down to a combination of environment and genetics. Isn't it interesting how the answer to almost everything in life is a combination of two extremes. That is why I think it is unwise to be either a full-fledged Republican or Democrat. You've got to have balance and realize that there are answers in both extremes.