Togetherness

Spend a few minutes and picture the people whom you respect and appreciate. You might respect someone in your field who had paved the way for your ethnic background or an artist who had encapsulated the way you felt when you were depressed. Or, a character in a book or film who overcame adversity and emerged from the ashes, reborn, a success. These people (fictional or otherwise) share a commonality: each of them needed the support of other people to help them reach their summit. That needs repetition: No one in this world can attain their success without the help of other people.

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Humans are social creatures, and even the most introverted of humans still desperately relies on a measure of human contact, if not human connection then human-made constructs/ products. The truth is that if you wanted to extricate yourself from civilization, you would need the help of other humans to help you realize your goal. No matter what you want or do not want out of your life, you will need the assistance or products of other people.

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Please think carefully about the following questions:

1. Who surrounds you?

2. To whom do you listen?

3. Who do you respect and admire?

4. Who is your role model?

5. Whom do you love?

6. Who do you agree/disagree with?

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I can offer two sayings that will illustrate the importance of the connections you hold with the people you associate with or respect. The first is: "You are the average of the five people around you." This saying is powerful because the five people around you do not necessarily need to mean those who physically surround you; it can also mean those whom you listen to or read. The second saying I believe is anchored in the Islamic tradition: "One who works in an abattoir will smell like an abattoir, one who works in a perfumery will smell like perfume." This saying is immaculate because it is true.

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I urge the reader to consciously expend more effort and time in cultivating the correct relationships. I also recommend that the reader removes the toxic relationships that they are entertaining. I also firmly believe that we all recognize a negative relationship, but we often delay action until the damage inflicted has reached a critical mass.

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Here is one final saying to ponder, and one of my personal favourites: "If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, go together."