Before you finish reading my column today you may be saying that “Old Jim” has quit preaching and gone to meddling. I certainly don’t mean it to be this way, and you will have to be the judge. In this column I want to talk about the source of many of our problems, some that are urgent, and others that just seem to nag us on a day-by-day basis. This is not something that most people discuss, it just kind of happens. However, after you read what I want to say it’s something you might want to discuss. 

Here is the bottom line: the source of many of our problems are the people with whom we regularly associate. We have all heard the saying, “Birds of a feather flock together.” A good example of what I am saying really goes back to our childhoods. We have all heard it said that some young person got into trouble because they were hanging out with the wrong crowd. This happens to adults as well, and it’s not something most people discuss or think about. Call it fate if you will, but somehow it just happens. It is so true, “Birds of a feather really do flock together.” 

In this respect, as I look back over my own life, God has been so good to me. While I never thought about it in this regard, and certainly did not plan this, it just happens that most people I have associated with were and are really fantastic people. Again, I did not plan it, it just worked out that somehow I always had a “best” friend. Please let me tell you about this because they each had some qualities that inspired me and never dragged me down. 

The first one was the late Bob Gannaway. Bob was my Dale Carnegie instructor who came to me in 1970 and asked me to go into business with him to distribute the Earl Nightingale Motivation programs. We remained business partners until 1978, when I moved to Cabot to pursue other interests. Then the late Dr. Dennis Schick, executive director of the Arkansas Press Association, who helped me greatly in getting my column in a great number of newspapers. Then the late Doyle Cook, who had made it big in the Farm Credit Association on the national level. We were both from Lincoln County and hunted and played golf together. He belonged to the Centennial Country Club where we played lots of golf. He was my “best” friend. 

Next was the late Gen. Don Dalton, a wonderful gentleman, fellow church member and we were members of the same Lions Club. Then Mickey Cox, who retired from AP&L and was a great craftsman and took the lead and recruited a group of men to build our bookcases after I founded the Bookcase for Every Child Project in 2005. We also fished together a lot.

It was never a conscious thing, but as I thought about this later, it hit me that none of these men drank alcohol, smoked or used profanity, and were Godly church-going men and good family men. Who could be so blessed? My friends, it does make a difference with whom we associate. We should be kind, friendly, and helpful to everyone, but be very selective about the people with whom we spend our time.

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(Jim Davidson is an author, public speaker, syndicated columnist, and Founder of the Bookcase for Every Child project. For a personalized copy of “Keep Your Fork” send $25, which includes postage and handling and tax, to Jim Davidson, 2 Bentley Drive, Conway, AR 72034.)