The word 'great' is high praise, but that's how buds think of each other.......
When I first started working at my last job, I met one of the movers and shakers who immediately tried to "show me the ropes." Earl explained, although not quite this crudely, that there was his team and there was everyone else and he tried to enlist me for his team. His style was trading favors and demanding loyalty. Everyone on his team was "great" but no one else ever could be. The message was "yer either fer me or agin me."
I think that Earl is a big part of my distaste for partisanship. I recognize that Earl's style is a time-honored one in common use. Still, I prefer the alternatives. In my alternative, we make some allowances for our friends, but, for the most part, are even handed in our assessment of people and situations based on a set of values or principles. That's also a time-honored approach in common use. In my mind, friends don't undercut friends ever, but neither do they apply a halo effect to them. When you're right, you're right--friend of foe alike.
Now I'm not saying that my alternative is absolutely better, although I much prefer it, only that there are more approaches than your own and that friends make allowances for that, as well. |
