Your Friend is Also My Friend

We are more connected than any of us know. Before Facebook, Instagram or any of those other social media apps it was harder to tell if your friends were friends with each other. But even with those connectors, we don’t always know if our friends are friends. I rarely look at mutual friend lists.

Chances are your friends are more connected to each other than you ever imagined. We all know people who are super connectors. They are well traveled, well educated, uber extroverts who make friends easily. Those friends are generous and happy to introduce people to each other. When people meet them they quickly feel like they are someone you have known a very long time.

I have more than a handful of those uber connector friends. One of my favorite things is when my super connectors meet each other and become friends, creating a 3-d spider web of friends.

I meet so many people teaching mah Jongg. I don’t have time to discover which friends we have in common. But sometimes they bring it to my attention when they figure it out.

One of the best ways I discover connections is when I learn where people are from. Today at the last moments of a three day class I discovered that my student, Lousie, was from Kinston. That unlocked an avalanche of connections we had. Those connections created an instant bond.

I wish I had figured out this connection on the first day rather the last. I wish there was some connection machine that would tell me all the people we have in common the second I meet you. It would aid in the short hand to know each other.

Perhaps I just need to wear the photos of my uber connector friends on my shirt. It would greatly quicken the discovery of who are people I want to be friends with. If you are my friend’s friend I am probably going to like you.