Disclaimer. Not all Orange people are scary.
Most of my friends are Orange.. I like these people because they are adventurous, high-energy, and fun.
But there's a problem.
So many Orange people really do possess the core value of Personal Freedom, a DNA-level principle which can activate at any moment. My friend Andy will park the car on a sidewalk. Beth flirts with all men within the sound of her voice. Carlos will take an unannounced right turn with the car and drive 500 miles on a lark "just to see what's there."
These people scare me, and I'm sure I am not alone among their other friends. With Andy now, I insist on driving the car. Beth I only invite to the house where flirtation is limited to petting the dog. For Carlos, I make sure I have a ready-made, must-do appointment that would thwart any ideas about sudden long-distance travel.
Why can Oranges be scary? Well, I don't want to go to jail, don't want to explain Beth's behavior to other guys' girlfriends and wives, and certainly don't want to listen to Carlos carry on about politics and war stories for the 18 hours that driving 1000 miles round trip would take.
So what New Year's Resolution is recommended for Orange people? First, far be it from me to tell Orange people what to do. On the other hand, what do you say we talk about getting even more fun and excitement out of natural Personal Freedom!
Oranges will be the first to tell you that fun and excitement is best shared with other people. Yet all of those other people will more likely join the Orange friend when they not only know that they themselves will have tons of fun and excitement too, but they will also feel secure that their lives and limbs will remain centered and attached when the fun is over. Right?
What I'm saying is that friendship comes at a cost. Keeping friends demands some compromises - the main compromise being that one person does not always get his way. And keeping friends also means that both parties are trying to monitor how their personal behavior is affecting the relationship.
So that's all I'm asking here. The recommended resolution for all of us - not just Orange people - is to step back and view our values and behavior from the outside, monitoring how they are affecting the people we care most about. What's adventurous and wonderful to you might be scary - even horrifying - to others. So is it worth imposing your fun and adventure - most of the time - on the people who care about you? That's all. To quote another Orange friend, "I'm just sayin'...".
