Who is in your circle of influence? Let’s start by asking who you are closest to in daily life.
Your Closest Circle: Trust and Influence
Who knows you best? Who do you advise? Who trusts you? Our very closest friends, with whom we share our lives, form relationships with us based on trust, loyalty, and deep respect. They have watched our lives. What do they see in us? How do we influence them? How do they affect us?
Friends & Acquaintances: Shaping Everyday Interactions
Next, who are your other friends? What kind of friends do you attract? What activities do you do together? Our pals form a bond of comfortable friendships likely based on common interests. We may not have deep discussions with them, but they are watching our lives. What do they learn from us? Why do we continue to seek them out? What value do we bring to the relationship, since they are watching our lives? How do they influence us?
Who are your acquaintances? I’m sure you can think of many people who know you, but they may not be familiar with your day-to-day life. Where did you meet them? How often do you see them? What type of interactions do you have with them? Our acquaintances are in the outer circle because circumstances often bring us together only briefly. They are watching our lives during this temporary time they are in our lives. What are we teaching them by the way we live?
From Home to Nation: Scaling Personal Responsibility
In each group surrounding us, we attract a particular type of person. Think of the wide-reaching impact we make on our immediate relationships as well as our friends and acquaintances. They are silently learning from us, whether good or bad. What we do today can impact generations to come. We actually have an impact on our country, believe it or not. We complain about our culture. Changing it for generations means living life differently, changing one life at a time, beginning with ourselves.
Work on your weaknesses. Cultivate a sound moral outlook. Money can’t buy the peace you gain from strengthening your character and, along with it, the impact you have on others.
Next, treat your home as a sanctuary, a refuge for you and your loved ones. This alone puts mileage on building a nation. Do the best you can with the contentious people you may live with. Your attempts to treat your home as a place of refuge may be the only peace they know.
Limit your screen time and try to engage in more face-to-face interactions. We need each other. I’ve been inviting more people to my house. They have all been very grateful for an opportunity to relax and relate.
Have conversations that build up, not tear others down. Think of quality conversations you will have. You may be speaking into the next life that will contribute to establishing justice in our nation, or ensuring domestic tranquility, or providing for our common defense, or promoting our general welfare. Abe Lincoln’s mother did. So did Ben Franklin’s mother.
Your Role As a Nation Builder
Think of yourself as a nation builder with every interaction you have. This alone turns your days into purpose-filled years and your country into a powerhouse of strength.
This is Common Sense Civics and Citizenship. 🇺🇸
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