We’ve all met that person, maybe he or she was one of our friends. That person who only seems to hit you up when they need something. Your birthday comes along – no “happy birthday”, you just graduated – no congrats, your dog just died – no condolences. But let them have a task they need help with and here they come asking for a favor.
This past week I went to a networking conference, and at first, all I could see was just a bunch of people fake-nodding a smiling – a whole crowd of opportunists communicating with each other – promoting small talk. None of them could give a damn about who the other actually was, only what they can possibly gain from them. And to be honest, I was there too, doing the same thing everyone else was. Let’s face it, sometimes we are those people that only hit up others when we need a favor from them. All we care about when we meet new people or are hanging out with friends is what we could possibly get out of them.
It’s our own selfish outlooks on life that have constituted a society that is all about taking advantage of things. We are all opportunists. And don’t get me wrong, that’s not always a bad thing, but we need to mention that sometimes it is. I’m an entrepreneur, some people are students, employees trying to grow in a company, and the list goes on. We may all have a vision of what we want and have the steps on how to get there. The problem is, we get so caught up in following through with the process that we fake every conversation, and exploit every “valuable” person we can get ahold of. This may produce some of our dreams, but it also produces loneliness when you end up having no real friends, only associates. And why would you have no friends you ask? Because they got tired of being used and blocked your behind. What ever happened to good ol’ genuine conversation… when you could actually care about what the other person was saying, who they were and where they came from. Whatever happened to friendships built on love, not utilitarianism?
I for one believe that it doesn’t take much to be genuine and show other people some love. And hey, sometimes it takes effort. Sometimes you have to go out of your way and say “hey, I should check up on so and so.” Don’t you love those texts? – those random texts you get from a friend who genuinely wants to make sure you’re good? We need to stop seeing each other as building blocks and remember that each of us are human. Other people are more than their job titles and positions, more than a means to something. We are all humans, all participants in this ride we call life.
The first step to creating a world of genuine opportunists starts with each of us going out of our way to actually be genuine. Exercise time: this week, hit up one person that you have ever viewed as just a “building block” in the past. Ask them how they’ve been doing – that’s it – just check up on them. This is how it’s done – bring the realness back into social networking. Let’s actually care for each other because we’re people rather than just care for what we can gain from each other.
