you and your friends
They say that "You are the average of your friends". Meaning that you acquire some of the traits and behavior (collectively called characteristics) of your friends, knowingly or unknowingly, thus becoming your own.
We know for a fact that people are mobile. Hence, they meet lots and lots of people every day. They may probably encounter new people at some point, becoming acquaintances. In this group of new acquaintances, one may feel a certain connection to certain individuals, eventually becoming friends. We know that these people have different characteristics. Assuming the statement above is true, then these characteristics "belong" to their own set of friends. Using the same assumption, it can therefore be assumed that these characteristics will then be shared between them; thus, allowing the person to "acquire" the characteristics of the other. Given that people are mobile, they, in turn, would share these characteristics with other individuals whom they can call friends.
Can we then conclude that eventually, all traits and behavior can be acquired by a single person? If, for example, a single person was able to meet all people alive in his generation, will he acquire all of their traits? Generally speaking, if everybody meets everybody else, then eventually everybody shares the same traits and behavior. Would there become a time, then, that eventually, everybody would be the same?
On another note, the statement shows that the traits and behavior of a person came from his friends. Indirectly saying, they are not his in the first place. One just acquired them. Will there be a point then that a person would eventually lose his "own" characteristics and be replaced by the acquired ones? In retrospect, would one even claim ownership of his own trait, if at the very start of his life he is already influenced by the persons surrounding him?
One would say that not everyone experiences the same set of friends, and environment, for that particular matter. But then again, people are mobile. They carry within them the characteristics they developed through those experiences, which, can be acquired by the people they meet. And who knows how many people may have shared the same or even similar experiences? It is a small world, after all.
What are the traits and behavior can one truly claim his own? In this light, what, then, defines you? Can you call even you YOU?
We know for a fact that people are mobile. Hence, they meet lots and lots of people every day. They may probably encounter new people at some point, becoming acquaintances. In this group of new acquaintances, one may feel a certain connection to certain individuals, eventually becoming friends. We know that these people have different characteristics. Assuming the statement above is true, then these characteristics "belong" to their own set of friends. Using the same assumption, it can therefore be assumed that these characteristics will then be shared between them; thus, allowing the person to "acquire" the characteristics of the other. Given that people are mobile, they, in turn, would share these characteristics with other individuals whom they can call friends.
Can we then conclude that eventually, all traits and behavior can be acquired by a single person? If, for example, a single person was able to meet all people alive in his generation, will he acquire all of their traits? Generally speaking, if everybody meets everybody else, then eventually everybody shares the same traits and behavior. Would there become a time, then, that eventually, everybody would be the same?
On another note, the statement shows that the traits and behavior of a person came from his friends. Indirectly saying, they are not his in the first place. One just acquired them. Will there be a point then that a person would eventually lose his "own" characteristics and be replaced by the acquired ones? In retrospect, would one even claim ownership of his own trait, if at the very start of his life he is already influenced by the persons surrounding him?
One would say that not everyone experiences the same set of friends, and environment, for that particular matter. But then again, people are mobile. They carry within them the characteristics they developed through those experiences, which, can be acquired by the people they meet. And who knows how many people may have shared the same or even similar experiences? It is a small world, after all.
What are the traits and behavior can one truly claim his own? In this light, what, then, defines you? Can you call even you YOU?