Tag: alexander the great

ADVICE FROM THE GREAT ðŸ‘‘

This quote is very powerful. Let us take a look at it in two separate pieces. The first part, “Let us conduct ourselves so that all men wish to be our friends.” What does this mean to you? Most people are looking for friends with benefits. No, not necessarily those benefits, but what can they get out of being friends with you. Nobody wants to spend their time, which is the most precious commodity, with someone who does not offer something positive. Are most friendships really this transactional? Let me ask you a question. Would you want to spend time with someone who makes you unhappy, is not a good conversationalist and does not enlighten you? Most of us would answer ‘no’ to that, and we should. Life is short.

The point of this is that we should endeavor to become people worth knowing. If we want to conduct ourselves so that all people wish to be our friends, what would that mean? It would mean learning to be a better listener. It would would mean developing the ability to blend honesty and compassion. It would not mean calling someone a nasty name a 5-year-old would use just because they hold a different opinion of you. Are you the type of person people will talk good about even when you are not around? That is usually a good litmus test as to how good of a person you are.

Now the second part, “All fear to be our enemies.” To me, this does not mean fear of retribution or violence. Those are actually acts of desperation. If we may take a glance at the first half of the quote, it will give an answer to the second. If you are someone that everyone would like to be friends with, how would that reflect on someone who doesn’t like you or wishes to be your enemy? People would look at them funny. “What is wrong with this person that he doesn’t like Bob? Bob is such a great guy.” There is always something wrong with people who pride themselves on tearing down other’s reputations. You should be so busy with improving yourself that you have no time to dwell on other’s faults.

Being well-connected is another way to have people fear to come against you. How do we become well-connected? By being someone that everyone would like to know, do business with and call their friend. Become a person of discipline, purpose and integrity. Nobody wants to go against someone like that. Before long, they just might add ‘the great’ after your name as well.

HOW TO CONDUCT YOURSELF THIS WEEK

This is an awesome way to not only approach the week, but life in general. It appears they didn’t call Ol’ Alex great for no reason. There are two parts of this to unpack, and they are really not all that different. Let us take a look at them one at a time.

The first part of the quote is to conduct ourselves that all men (people) wish to be our friend. This is an interesting task. When you think of the wide array of people in the world, how can everyone want to be your friend? That is next to impossible. What is possible is to adopt characteristics and live in such a fashion that any decent person would want to associate with us. I like to call it the ‘John Wayne way of living’. In the movies, Mr. Wayne always played an honest, straight forward man. A man who always did his best to do the right thing. How close the real John Wayne was to this character is up for debate, but does not really matter here.

What do you think are some universally admirable characteristics? Honesty for one. Even if you disagree with someone, if they know that you will tell them the truth, they will respect you. Doing our best to be compassionate towards others, especially those we differ with, is one of those traits we should adopt. We never know anyone’s complete story, so we should never assume to judge them. Working to continually improve yourself is another trait that should inspire people to want to associate with you. Everyone admires someone who not only acknowledges their faults, but is actively working to improve upon them. Staying humble and kind. Keeping a positive outlook, even in tough times, allows us to be a light for others. Who wouldn’t want more light in their lives?

The second part can be taken a couple of different ways. “and fear to be our enemies” Does this mean we should threaten and make people fear us? Not at all. Here is how I see it. When you develop the traits above, the world at large will develop a positive outlook on you. Many people will be happy and honored to call themselves your friends. If someone were to talk negatively about such a person, or to attempt to spread gossip about them, who do you think would end up looking bad? It would be the person doing the gossiping about a person that most people hold in high regard. Therefore, the best thing you can do to have people fearing to be your enemy is to be a friend to as many good people as you can.

Adopting this way of living will allow us to chart a course that will end in a life well lived. We will have blessed the lives of many while we are here and our memory will live on long after we are gone.