i did not mean to suggest causality. i thought the question was really about our friends, do or don't have a causal influence on our own personality and character. But you're right, i was reading like six levels down into a tweet. While you're also arguing that influence can be positive or ative, which is obviously a good point. Is there somebody in your life that you would say, you know why, i wouldn't be the man i am to day were it not for phi the blank? I've had maybe one and a half people like that, but i wouldn't have called them friends. I would have called them mentors or teachers.