Associations

We can love our enemies but we don't need to be friends with them.

Listen, children, to a father's instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight; for I give you good precepts: do not forsake my teaching. When I was a son with my father, tender, and my mother's favorite, he taught me, and said to me, "Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live. Get wisdom; get insight: do not forget, nor turn away from the words of my mouth. Do not forsake her, and she will keep you; love her, and she will guard you. The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom, and whatever else you get, get insight. Prize her highly, and she will exalt you; she will honor you if you embrace her. She will place on your head a fair garland; she will bestow on you a beautiful crown." Hear, my child, and accept my words, that the years of your life may be many. I have taught you the way of wisdom; I have led you in the paths of uprightness. When you walk, your step will not be hampered; and if you run, you will not stumble. Keep hold of instruction; do not let go; guard her, for she is your life. Do not enter the path of the wicked, and do not walk in the way of evildoers. Avoid it; do not go on it; turn away from it and pass on. For they cannot sleep unless they have done wrong; they are robbed of sleep unless they have made someone stumble. For they eat the bread of wickedness and drink the wine of violence. But the path of the righteous is like the light of dawn, which shines brighter and brighter until full day. The way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what they stumble over. My child, be attentive to my words; incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them escape from your sight; keep them within your heart. For they are life to those who find them, and healing to all their flesh. Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life. Put away from you crooked speech, and put devious talk far from you. Let your eyes look directly forward, and your gaze be straight before you. Keep straight the path of your feet, and all your ways will be sure. Do not swerve to the right or to the left; turn your foot away from evil. - Prov. 4:1-27

This sounds like advice I used to get from my parents.  They were always curious about who I associated with.

In the early days, it was easy.  We all knew each other from the block.  We played together in the streets and on each other's lawns.

We became friends with people like us, and that was a good thing back then.

We were far from privileged, living in suburbia in the most affordable homes available at the time.

We really didn't know what wicked kids were like.  We thought anyone who made fun of you or told you to walk on the other side of the street was wicked.  They were bullies.

Discovering the truly wicked came later, much later.  

As Solomon says, the truly wicked are recruiters.  They are not happy unless they add you to their list of accomplishments.

And they may appear like friends at first.  That's how people get recruited into gangs.  They convince you they care about you and no one else does.

So, we need to keep vigilant.  When we are at our weakest, we can be fooled.

Back on the block, we knew who to stay clear of.  Sometimes we were right and sometimes we were wrong, not wanting to associate with someone different.

Today, there is pressure to include everyone.

That may not be good advice for us when we are young.  It may not be good advice when we are old too.

Too many people scam the elderly.

So, we need to trust our gut.  If it feels wrong, it probably is.  And if it sounds too good to be true, well, you know the rest.

More to come...