The past year has been a year of failures for me. I failed to persuade any of my old friends about any of my strongly held beliefs concerning morality, politics, and economics.
Not only did I fail to persuade them, I failed to maintain them as friends. I can count 3 friends from high school and college and early startup days who actually cut me off (i.e. won’t reply to emails, left a chatroom, skipped birthday text).
On top of that there are some who I may still exchange pleasantries with, but will no longer discuss Bitcoin with, since, seeing how it went with the others and where they’re starting from, there’s no point.
I am bemused to say the least at how little influence I have over others concerning areas I’ve taken the time to learn a lot about and in which I have significant SITG and, although I do not often make new friends I will have to consider very carefully who I will associate with going forward, as it is clear I have been hanging out with people that have zero respect for me. And although it may actually be that I don’t deserve any respect from anyone, I would rather be alone and aware of that than delude myself that I have actual friends.