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The Hedgehog’s Philosophy
When I moved to the U.S., my social life literally went down to zero. I’ve been incredibly lucky as the local people are super friendly. I quickly made some good friends. As the saying goes, “Real friends are rare.” It takes time and lessons to make real friends. Here are the three lessons that I’ve learned about real friends.
The first lesson, The Hedgehog’s Philosophy. The hedgehogs have got sharp spikes on their backs to drive off the predators. In the cold winter, they try to get close to stay warm. When they are too close to each other, they would get hurt by their own spikes. They jump up and set apart……then they get close again…..then the hurt……After many rounds of moving back and forth, they will find the right distance for the most warmth possible without hurting each other.
I learned this lesson the hard way. Decades ago I was sent to Europe for work. Before departure, I cashed out my assets and invested into my best friend’s company. I didn’t even ask for a contract. We both agreed that it was what the best friends would do. Turned out, though, it was where the friendship started to crack. In the following years my friend started to blame the business was bad, he could hardly make any money. But he didn’t hide to double the size of his…
