There are so many people. Seriously, there are about seven billion people on this spherical planet that we inhabit. That’s a really large number, so it’s, appropriately, hard to conceptualize. If you type this number into your search engine of choice it will give you examples of seven billion, like: seven billion grains of rice is roughly 208 tons.
I don’t even want to go into all of the issues the agriculture industry is experiencing due to the population growth. These issues include, but are in no way limited to, quantity and quality of food, lack of land for farming, and the management of food animals.
I meet numerous amounts of people in my current life. Here’s a bit of my optimism leaking through again: I believe that if you try hard enough it is possible to be on a friendly basis with almost everyone. You only need to find a connection.
I meet them; we exchange names, majors, and, on occasion, contact information. The interactions that seem to go well are given a chance to grow into a comfortable acquaintanceship or friendship. My problem is not being able to figure out to ensure the friendship. It’s a lot easier for me to get stuck into the “just acquaintances” relationship.
It’s always great when I meet particularly awesome individuals; they could’ve been highly personable or extremely witty, etc. We talk and hang out a few times after the initial interaction, but then we slip into the comfortable acquaintanceship category. Whenever we see each other we exchange genuine pleasantries, then we carry on with our lives.
I tend to forget just how amazing they are until we are randomly thrown together again. At that point and time, I cannot figure out why I do not spend more time with the person in question. An example would be one of my current friends, we met and we got along just fine, but our communications ended until just recently. The only reason our communications have restarted is chance! An unexpected social event yielded an unexpected social reunion.
I do have an answer for you about why this happens: time. It takes a lot of time to manage and maintain a friendship. Think about it. You have meals, play board games, watch movies, and talk about nothing together. Before you can even do the aforementioned activities you must work to win their trust and friendship. An acquaintanceship is by far less work, especially when you’re like me and beginning socialization isn’t one of your stronger points.
Sweet dreams!
Ashley Kirtman 