We have all heard Aesop’s fable, “familiarity breeds contempt.” I especially like the way French novelist George Sand puts it, “Admiration and familiarity are strangers.” When we act in an over familiar manner in a relationship we fail to recognize the natural boundary lines that all people have. When we become relationally presumptuous we violate the individual autonomy of those in our work, home and social lives. We must resist our tendency to manipulate and control others. These and other actions of over familiarity will set back our relationships and send people running for the hills for safety.
(To be continued.)
