who do you pick

[wareagle69]

as your friends. I have said many a time that i only associate with usefull people not useless folks, and i have been chastised for it but i remain unapoligetic, hop said in the dog thread that you would not pick a wild,stupid, or completley useless person to go into the bush with, and i choose the same for eveyday life, if i assocate with you it is because you have a valuable skill that i do not posses that i can learn from. Why should/would i associate with some one who is delpeting my time it is useful also and yes, the quetion could be turned around on me from the folks i associate with but i don't think so i bring allot of skills to the table. this probably sounds very shallow but i am not w/o my merits i do allot of volunteer work and some of my skills i have employed to save lives and help people in harder circumstances than myself but as i said i do not hang out on the weekends with them heck i only hang out with my wife usually anyways, so who else here is honest with themselves?

[crashdive123]

Why should?would i associate with some one who is delpeting my time it is useful also and yes, the quetion could be turned around on me from the folks i associate with but i don't think so i bring allot of skills to the table

So that they can learn from you.

[rebel]

Interesting. Complexity on more than one level. One is an eagle above with one view. The other from below the water and a different side.

[Sarge47]

I have very few really close friends as, like you, WE, I spend my spare time with my family. There are people on here I seem to bond with that, but if they knew me, might not have anything to do with me...I'm really a pretty boring person to outsiders, & that's the way I like to keep it. It's a whole lot less complicated. That being said, there are people on here that I'd "ride the river" with, & those I'd avoid completely. We've had threads on here before about who one might pick as their choice to be involved in a survival situation with, but I didn't get the feeling that that's what you were asking here.

[RobertRogers]

You tend to become much like the people you most associate with. So yes, choose wisely!

[wildWoman]

Since we moved out into the bush, I don't have a chance to hang out with my friends anymore - I visit them as part of my town trips, and a few have come out here to visit. But they are all people who have either lived in the bush in the past or are homesteading now. Most of them are a lot older, between 60 and 75, and they have a lot I can learn from them. One used to be a park ranger in Denali and is a mountain resue and SAR expert, and chockful of eye-popping tales (which always have to be pulled out of his nose, unfortunately).
Most of the stuff in the woods I do by myself or with my partner, the only other person I go with is my best friend but I only see her every 3 years or so now.

[backtobasics]

I don't care much for people in general because I've been biten a few to many times. I tend to keep to myself spending most of my time with my wife and sons. Recently i have aquired a son inlaw that has some of the same interest as I do ( survival skills and car racing) so we'll see how that turns out. I have a few friends that i see a couple of times a year for a few drinks and thats plenty for me. Its not that i think I'm better (although some tend to believe that i do). I just like to play it safe and drama is something I have little tollorance for. It's kinda like what I say about living in town I don't like it becuase " Either I'm doing something to piss the guy next door off or he's doing something to piss me off". People= Drama at the very least. Hell theres enough drama in most families, thats enough for me. My other complaint would be men trying to prove how tough they are, got NO use for them. BTW most men are tougher than me (because of my physical conditions) there's no need to prove it to me. I'm not impressed, not very easy anyway.

P.S. I still help when i can tho, I just don't get to close

[Pal334]

You tend to become much like the people you most associate with. So yes, choose wisely!

This is true, I believe I am a fortunate man.
I can count on one hand the number of friends I have. I have a myriad of acquaintances though (probably as we all do), through work, in the neighborhood etc. The acquaintances are people that are nice enough and trustworthy, but there is no significant shared life experience. The friendships have been made as a result of shared experiences, some adverse during which a repeated reliability, trustworthiness and courage has been displayed. These are the folks that I feel most comfortable with, the type who “always have my back” and I theirs. And that term “always have my back” is not a catch phrase, it has been proven in actions and deeds. These are people that when we are together, not much talking needs to be done, and we have nothing to prove to each other. When we have been in harms way together, none of us had to check to see if our ”six o’clock” was covered.

[DOGMAN]

Who do I pick to go into the bush with? Normally, whomever pays my fee. In the past that was lots of people....lately not so many people. So, I've been spending alot of time alone.
But, in all honesty, I feel pretty competent going into the wilds with anybody.

[chiangmaimav]

I prefer to associate with people who are just basically good people. If I can learn something from them, or teach them something, that is great. But if not that is okay too as long as they are good people. Here alot of people are very simple and uneducated but even living in poverty they enjoy life and are a pleasure to be around, and I would really rather spend time with someone who enjoys life and knows nothing than Grizzly Adams, if he were a miserable s.o.b. Which I cannot say as I never met him. Tonight I was invited to dinner at a Japanese guys house. he speaks no English and I have no idea what the hell he is talking about, but he is a good-hearted guy who laughs all the time and I enjoy hanging around with him anyway. As far as going into the wilderness here, if it is connected to my job I have no choice who I go with. Sometimes it is with people I feel comfortable with, and sometimes it is not, but for the most part they are stand-up guys.

[Leighman]

While I agree that the association with like-minded and useful people is positive in ANY scenario, a person may not always have the luxury as to whom they choose for "company."

The majority of non-wilderness SHTF scenarios will likely find you surrounded by just the opposite types of folks (i.e. workplace, grocery store, gas station, etc).

In those situations you "run with what you brung" and have little choice but to engage in a mutual cooperation of sorts in order to help ensure your survival.

[Ole WV Coot]

Acquaintances ? Got plenty of them. Friends, no. I'm an only child, left home young and learned to depend on myself. Now that I'm older it's family, but not real close to most of them. Might not see some for a year or so but if needed we are there for each other, no questions asked. Guess you could say I'm always kinda alone in a crowd.

[klkak]

I have but one good friend. It has been that way all my life. I've never had more then one or two close friends at one time. Most folks I meet think I'm interesting but keep their distance. My good friend a trapping partner have spent many days together in the wild and lonely.

If I had to choose one person from this site to go into bush with, it would have to be AKS. I have put my life in his hands and he didn't fail me. When he finely returns, I hope to cover allot of country with him. If I were to go with anyone else my nature is to watch them closely before trusting them. My gut tells me there are a couple of you who could be trusted when things got cold and hungry.

[Riverrat]

I have relied on myself to long to change. I go to the woods alone or with my wife. I have lots of family in the area, and quite a few acquaintances in the area, but very few I would depend on if my life was on the line. I was a loner when I was a kid, and still am to a point. There are some on this site that seem to know there stuff, some even seem to know a heck of a lot more, but I do not know you, so would take awhile to trust. No offense meant to anyone.

[SARKY]

I break it down this way.... The majority of people I know are acquaintances (I don't care wether they believe that I am their friend). Next are my shipmates...Guys and gals i've served with and know they've got my back and they know i have theirs. Then lastly there are my friends.... maybe a half dozen (none of them militry) who have my back and I have theirs.
I truley dread a large natural disaster here in the SF Bay area because I know the acquaintances will be running to my door thinking that they can share in my supplies.

[Stairman]

I generally dont like people till I decide I do.My friends are few and far between.Some owe me money and figure its just cheaper to avoid me.I hunt alone!I have had nice deer taken by so called friends out of my stands.I am a loner by nature and enjoy the quiet.My wife and daughter give me plenty of space,to hit the woods in fall and winter.Summers in the woods here are brutal and is a seasonal thing for me.I detest loud drunks and people blowin smoke in my face so avoid those situations.Someday I may live alone and will enjoy it with a dog for company.Not sure the wife will ever want to live any simpler,but I plan too,someday.She might come around by then but a bunch of naggin aint gonna cut it.

[wareagle69]

i realized something the other day, i put alot of thinking into what remy said about me a few threads ago, he said that of all the folks here i probably have posted more about my life than anyone else, and he is correct in that, i remember a time when i was very closed to everyone and people were very intimidated by me, my size my looks my ink my abilities,my presence and my repuation, so i tried to put people at ease and be more open about who and what i am,to be less intimidating and i see now that some 14 years later that has not worked. Why did that lesson take so long you ask? well this is the first time in my life i have been in one spot this long, i ahve been in the area for three years and the same job for a year and being open and trying to joke and share of my experiences has not worked so now i will go back to the mystery i was for many a year if peopel don't repond to that then so be it, it is what it is, i stand alone now anyways.

[SARKY]

Wareagle,
I have learned to trust my gut feelings when I meet somone. It doesn't always work out, but it does work out more often than any other way i've used to judge people. Some people feel wrong, it could be that they are trying too hard or just plain ooze scum. Others you can tell are comfortable in their own skin and exude genuineness. Sometimes it is more interesting what people don't say. besides, didn't some famous guy say something about judging people not by what they look like but by their character?

[DOGMAN]

In general people whom seem over anxious to want to befriend me I don't trust. Most of my real friends I've known for over a decade. I'm always leery of people trying to make friends. It takes me a long time to develop any real trust or faith in a person. I figure most everyone is ultimatly out for themselves, and in the end will screw you over to get what they need. Over time though some people surprise me.

[wareagle69]

evryone has a need to be accepted at some level, i think it is the "pack" mentality that has been alive in us for thousands of years, that is why this site is so succsessful,we can fit in here and be accepted, i have always choosen activities that are beyond the norm, i do not sit in the lunch trailor and talk of quads or snowmachines or 4x4's or even the hot chick on site for me these hold no interest, iread about first aid or survival or wildflowers> an actual quote from one of the apprenticec "who new that the biggest scariest guy here would be a geek, refering to my knowledge of wildflowers. even my wife has noticed how many people try to joke with me all the ladies at the bank always try to be playful of cours i am the only guy around that wears a resistol cowboy hat. but i think it is that people try to humanize me to feel comfortableso they joke, the ladies at the bank i am freindly to but the idiots at work i would rather they stand off, so about every seven years i transform anyways its about that time anyhow so i bid farewell to freindly eagle