Losing Friends And Elections
One of the best business books every written wasn’t even really about business. It was Dale Carnegie’s transformational “How To Win Friends and Influence People.” I’ve read it multiple times and I never fail to come away a better person.
Carnegie’s central message is pretty simple: be nice. Sure, there’s more to it than that. But, really it’s about how to be a nice person.
Today I was accused of only “pretending” to be nice. It was an interesting accusation. The discussion centered around a public figure. My friends who vote differently than I do are convinced the public figure (not the president, btw) is a terrible, horrible, scum of the earth person. I tried to explain that she deserved respect simply because all people deserve respect.
We disagreed.
This friend is still a friend, but I’ve lost friends during this election cycle. Always because they chose to no longer associate with me. For some reason we’ve accepted the idea that if we disagree we cannot be friends. When did being right become more important than being friends?
My dad used to say, “Do you want to be right or do you want to be Sargent?”
If he were still with us, he might have modify it to “Do you want to be right or do you want to be friends?”
I know which one I’d choose.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren.
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