Freindship

I have moved around quite a bit in the years since high school. I have become a bit disillusioned with the meaning of friendship. As I anticipate the next move, expecting to stay there for the longest time since I left my parents' house, I ask myself. How am I supposed to keep up with everyone that I know? What does it mean to be a good friend? How do you make new friends? When do you spend time with your new friends while still spending time with your spouse?
There is a huge world out there, sometimes we get so used to our culture that we forget there are people with totally different ideas, motivations, and concerns. What is considered polite in the US isn't polite in other places. Three things that Americans do to frustrate people of other cultures are:
One, Americans usually only speak English, we are unlearned and singular just because we don't speak all the languages of the world (or even a few of them.) Well, guess what world, the United States is roughly the size of the entire European continent. I could drive twelve hours in every direction from Oklahoma and still find that 99% of the population still speaks English (or some derivative of it.) Because we are in this cocoon, we don't have an opportunity to go to other countries and learn another language. All joking aside, if Texas was a different country, I'm sure I would learn the language they speak there pretty quickly.
Two, people of other cultures don't make casual talk or light talk. A common phrase in English "Let's get together sometime." In reality this is said with the meaning that, yes, you like the person, yes, you want to get together, but no, you have no idea when. Plans aren't plans until they are confirmed with date, time, place, and obligation. However, if you say in another culture, "Let's get together." and you don't in the following few weeks, you have greatly offended them.
Three, acknowledgement. Everyone is important. In the US, a general greeting is fine, you enter a room, and say a general 'Hi!' and you're done. Not so in other places, you should greet every person, sometimes according to age, both when you're coming and when you're going. I think that is a little bit of a hassle, but it is much more polite. Except in circumstances where the setting in not conducive to personal greetings, this rule holds pretty true.
I have quite a bit more to say especially about the things in the opening paragraph, but I have some things to take care of with my family. Anyway, friends, be careful not to offend, and if you think you have been offended, it was most likely a misunderstanding.

The Gospel Truth

"It's not the Gospel." said my coworker, limiting his responsibility for the accuracy of his comment. Thoughts ran through my head, "if I have to go look up this information to make sure it is accurate, why did you tell me anything in the first place? Your comments are less than needed because if you are wrong, I may miss what I am looking for being lead to believe a false trail. if you are right I will have wasted my time talking to you when I could have just the right information faster and more reliably from the source" So I move on, having learned a lesson.
But there is another part to the message. Humans. Humans are strange emotional creatures, they need to feel needed. They like to be liked. They want to be helpful for other humans. So I go to the source, find the "gospel" answer, and casually mention to my coworker that he was right, he says, "Yeah, I knew it had to be..." so what has he really contributed? A few points of conversion, a good feeling at having "helped" another human being, and we both move on with our work.
A few days later I am sure he will bring up the topic, ask me how it is going, and we have another short conversation. I have often wondered how non-romantic relationships begin, and now living in a new place, with a new job, I can see that relationships are built on the trivial aide each person gives. Building upon itself until your acquaintance is your friend, and your friend is your best friend. It all starts with not telling the Gospel truth.