How To Make Friends

A dog can teach us how to make friends than any other.  Dale Carnegie in his book "How To Win Friends and Influence People", recounted how his dog, Tippy, showed him how to make friends in the shortest amount of time -

"When I was five years old, my father bought a yellow-haired pup for fifty cents. He was the light and joy of my childhood. Every afternoon about four-thirty, he would sit in the front yard with his beautiful eyes staring steadfastly at the path, and as soon as he heard my voice or saw me swinging my dinner pail through the buck brush, he was off like a shot, racing breathlessly up the hill to greet me with leaps of joy and barks of sheer ecstasy.

Tippy was my constant companion for five years. Then one tragic night - I shall never forget it - he was killed within ten feet of my head, killed by lightning. Tippy's death was the tragedy of my boyhood.

You never read a book on psychology, Tippy. You didn't need to. You knew by some divine instinct that you can make more friends in two months by becoming genuinely interested in people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you. Let me repeat that. You can make more friends in two months by becoming interested in other people than you can in two years by trying to get other people interested in you."

If you want to make more friends, learn from your pet dog. While not forgetting to love yourself, start focusing more on other people. This is the secret why dogs are endearing to us. They show genuine interest in us. The moment I get home, my dogs are all there to greet me, jumping and wagging their tails, saying that they are very happy to see me. One of the reasons why, despite the difficulties of caring for a dog, I do not regret my decision of having them in my life.