Five Simple Rules to Be My Friend
Tuesday, August 26th, 2008One of my blogger pals, Hilly, recently put up a post on simple rules to be her friend and she permitted me to post a similar list on my own blog, as I was so inspired by her list. Without further adieu.
1. Authenticity: I don’t want to be friends with a facade. I want to be friends with a person. If you play games, talk behind my back, or otherwise show yourself to be dishonest and untrustworthy, I don’t need or want you in my life.
2. Intelligence: Be able to put together an e-mail with decent grammar and spelling. I like to surround myself with people with whom I can have an intelligent conversation ‚ whether it’s about art, books, current events, film, music, or something else. It is a plus if you’ve read a book in the last decade ‚ and not a text book or one on serial killers.
3. Open-mindedness: If you are homophobic, sexist, racist, or otherwise closed-minded we will not get along. I have friends and family members of many beliefs, cultures, ethnicities, and lifestyles and I don’t appreciate my friends (or me) being discriminated against.
4. Respect: It’s a matter of respect saying please, thank you, and bless you (if someone sneezes). Furthermore, it is respect to hold a door for someone, to treat service staff like people, to not talk over others, and to not to stand up friends (call if you can’t make it). If you don’t show respect for me and/or others, I will quickly lose my respect for you and will not want to spend time with you.
5. Sense of humor: I can appreciate a dark, twisted sense of humour but also appreciate a dry sense of humor (think British comedy) or slapstick humor (think Chevy Chase). I’m varied in my sense of humor, clearly, so it doesn’t take much to get a laugh out of me. Laughter is important in any relationship, including friendship.