The Golden Rule

Never Trust a Stranger?

It is a common knowledge that we shouldn’t trust anyone we didn’t know, hence strangers. We have this inclination to think that other people will always do us harm or they will violate our trust even our well-being. Isn’t it unfair? Our friends were once strangers. What if we didn’t give them a chance then our lifelong friends or our best friends wouldn’t be called as such right? Isn’t that something worth trying?

People lie, people hide something from you for they’re like you who are born to believe to never trust a stranger. I’m not telling you to let your guards down and invite people who have bad intentions to you to easily prey upon your vulnerabilities.

Sometimes those people that we hold dear or love the most are the people that will hurt us the most and that's a given fact.

The thing I learned during my High School years is that, yes you could be in the in crowd but you can also be with other people too namely the taken for granted ones. The big difference between, the so called in-crowd and the not so popular people at the so-called High School Kingdom are the following:

IN-CROWD

1. They always have the best of everything.
2. They are the teacher’s apple of the eye or object of affection.
3. They are the in-demand people.
4. They are the ones ruling the school organizations.
5. They always look perfect.

THE TAKEN FOR GRANTED ONES

1. They are the ones who keep to themselves.
2. They mostly have hidden talents and afraid to show it.
3. They mostly say yes even if they don’t feel like it.
4. They are always in the sidelines watching.
5. They might have sat beside you but you didn’t even bother to ask.

I am friends with my so-called in-crowds classmates being the cream of the crop we tend to maintain a standard. Perfection is a must and you should never forget about it. Sometimes being one is not that fun anymore, these are the things that I observed regarding the in-crowds:

IN-CROWD

1. They always have the best of everything but they tend to forget about it and they even wish for more.

2. They are the teacher’s apple of the eye or object of affection and sometimes it comes into their heads and they tend to abuse it.

3. They are the in-demand people by doing so they don’t even have time for their personal life and their families for they tend to be inside the four corners of the school where they rule.

4. They are the ones ruling the school organizations but they are the ones that ignores and neglect simple school rules and regulations.

5. They always look perfect they tend to think of what clothes to wear rather than their own assignments.

This may not apply to all, I have friends who can manage things up but they’re extinct in the High School Kingdom or should I say JUNGLE.

One major thing that I learned from being with these guys is that you rarely find someone that cares most of them were just there to belong within the band wagon of the in-crowds but most of them are secretly wishing to get pass one another in terms of grades, beauty, popularity and other perks that would be up for grabs once vacated by either one of you.

Then I came to the realization that I should extend my network, I tend to befriend people outside my usual group. The meek, the mild, the nerd, the loner and the Goth-type everything that would accept or grab the hand that I graciously extend is welcome.

They are the ones who wouldn’t mind being stepped upon, being ignored or being laughed at behind their backs. Oh wait a minute, aren’t they normal people just like us?! They do cry, angry, laugh, smile and needs understand.

THE TAKEN FOR GRANTED ONES

1. They are the ones who keep to themselves for they think that other people wouldn’t care at all.
2. They mostly have hidden talents and afraid to show it for they’re just too shy and didn’t have the self-confidence to let the world knows about their talent.
3. They mostly say yes even if they don’t feel like it for they’re afraid to speak up.
4. They are always in the sidelines watching for they can’t imagine themselves being the center of attraction even if they could.
5. They might have sat beside you but you didn’t even bother to ask so why not be the one to extend a hand, smile and get to know them.

These people will teach you a lot of things like:

1. Humility – learn to be humble for the people who you saw going up might be the people waiting for you when you fall down.

2. Trust – learn to trust your instinct for deep inside you know who to trust and who you shouldn’t, learn to trust your guts.

3. Contentment – learn to appreciate things that you have for sometimes simple and neglected things were the most important part of your life.

4. Kindness – learn to understand someone, try to extend a hand, share a smile and a hug to everyone you didn’t know when someone needed one.

5. Awareness – learn to be sensitive on how other people might think or feel from your own actions. Even if you think that something you did is right learn to accept that some people might not think the same way and might feel bad about it.

It is never too late to make a move, remember in school we learn how to read and write and we learn about numbers but in the school of life it doesn’t weight how much marks or scores you have. What matter is the way you communicate and the way you adapt with things around you, it isn’t enough to just have a high I.Q. (Intelligence Quotient) because you also need the same amount of E.Q. (Emotional Quotient) in order to survive outside the four corners of the classroom.

No amount of certificates, medals or trophies will make a person’s worth it is in his attitude and traits that he’s being measured. So the next time you tell yourself to never trust a stranger, please always remember that our friends were once strangers and that it is always okay to be aware and be extra careful but it doesn’t mean that everyone around you have an ulterior motive against you. Beware means be aware and being paranoid is another thing and it is way too over-rated.