Thursday 26 July 2012

Friends that Empower: Part 2


The Samaritan

Your Samaritan friend does unforgetable big surprises to you and your beloved ones. By many accounts, you usually consider this friend as 'distant' and hence, there is no intimate relationship between you and him. But he proves you otherwise by 'saving' you from real, big troubles. You may fall sick and/or you may face a tough challenge that could turn around your life in an unwanted direction. You clearly feel help from some one very close to you. Unfortunately, all the people you approach may decline to offer you any help and/or they do not just have the required qualities that time. You will then find yourself no where.
 

 

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That is the perfect time for your Samaritan friend to intervene. Without your formal request and from nowhere, he invests a lot of his time and resources only to make sure you stand strong and tall again. He does this on his own will and expects no immediate returns from you, as the altruist does to other people- see previous post. You will consider this guy your saviour and he will occupy much of your heart and mind. In a way, this friend is very much similar to  the Biblical Samaritan who nursed and paid for a severly beaten and helpless person.    

The Casual

Meeting my flickr friend! - accidentally!!
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You probably have a friend who is not that close, as in the case of the Samaritan. You know his name and you have some information about his background as well as his networks. But due to no obvious reasons, you do not have an active relationship with him.  You may accidentally meet him at a party, church, mosque,  school/university, or on your way. He will greet you warmly and will 'compel' you to pass some time with him. The best quality of this friend is his amazing skill and authority to create a satisfying atmosphere when and where you meet him. 

You feel extremely at peace both during and after you meet the guy; mainly due to 1) his skill of choosing worthwhile topics for discussion, and 2) his incredible understanding of you and your situation. You will have an excellent opportunity to 're-live' your past and long for the future. Irrespective of the amount of time you pass with him, you feel free, satisfied, refreshed, and empowered. The funny thing is that you will not likely to bring that person any closer to you, partly because you already are getting the best qualities normally expected from best friends. You just decide to meet that friend the usual way, accidentally.

The Naturalist

 
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The naturalist or physicalist is a friend who believes that face-to-face meetings are in no match with media, including social networking technologies. He does not feel satisfied talking to you over the phone, for instance. He uses technologies only to fix in-person appointments with you. When he meets you physically, he will 'crash' you with his exceptional hugs. That big and genuine hugs compel you to 'surrender' to his perspectives and expectations. Your stay with him will be really warm, engaging, and brief although you are likely to pass much time together. The problem with this relationship is when you or he has to relocate to other countries/places to 'serve' your or his life. The probability of getting him in person may saddly diminish.  

The Virtual

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Opposed to the physicalist, a virtual friend assumes that life is worth living thanks to communication technologies. In fact, this friend reduces life to technologies. This friend is comfortable managing friendships if and only if he uses modern technologies. All his friends must be tech savy all the time. If he  meets you physically on your way, he will quickly greet you and will promise to see you online. Or, he will just give you a sign to call or chat or email. That night, you will pass hours talking to him over the phone/video. He will raise relevant, useful and yet entertaining stuff all along and you will for sure bless the night. Your convesations with him are so empowering that you will have a brief and sweet night.     

The Typical

The wedding photographer told us to strike a pose, I think mine might have been slightly melodramatic...
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This is the commonest type of all good friends. He brings no specilized interests and/or qualities to the relationship, as opposed to the aforementioned good frinds who specialize on something. He is much like your general medical practitioner who takes care of much of your health concerns. Your this friend tries to be with you all along: during holidays, when you are ill, during your college ceremonies, when you get married, and even when you are bored. 

As you benefit from the competencies of your doctor, you gain a lot psychological, social, moral, economic and/or spiritual support from your typical friend nearlly all the time. This does not mean your typical friend is flawless; he may happen to have some behaviors that you are not comfortable with. The good thing is that you  overweigh his positive qualities and decide to hang out with him for years and years.    

1 comment:

  1. Its like you read my mind! You seem to know a lot about this, like you wrote the book in it or something.
    I think that you can do with some pics to
    drive the message home a bit, but instead of that, this is magnificent blog.
    A great read. I will certainly be back.

    ReplyDelete

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