Relationship Capital Pt.1

I have been putting a lot of thought lately into how we can eliminate bad influences and bad people from our lives. More on that to come.

I got home from work today and my wife needed a hug and kiss-and so did I. Our cats needed played with. The baby needed...a NAP! (Awesome! Time to write!) The litter box needed cleaned. The trash needed taken out. (YAY!)

All these things need maintained. These are not things that take care of themselves, especially the relationships. They require cultivation, maintenance, attention and so on. Relationships all need much labor. All of them do, even the ones we develop with our pets.

The human relationship requires special attention. All relationships build what's known as "relationship capital". I heard the term from some intellectual smart-ass or like-minded comedian along the way, so I do not claim credit even though I unintentionally live this theme. Essentially it explains that all parties involved in all relationships build up capital that can be spent at a later time. In essence: I do something you want me to do, then later I get to do something I want to do. Simple, right? Sorta. It's not a direct trade, and I have yet to find a good website with an appropriate exchange rate.

Regarding a new baby, for example, I change a second diaper, then am entitled to one "you have to change this diaper" card redeemable at a later date. You wanna sleep in a couple hours? OK, then you get the cranky child this afternoon when I would really like a nap. What's that? You wanna go out for the day and go shopping and work out and hang out with your friends? I think that entitles me to two hours with my friends likely doing something dumb that involves moving things, drinking a couple beers and scratching ourselves.

What I have noticed is that we have a limited amount of resources allotted to this relationship capital, and this capital should be reserved for people who matter. Why do we waste so much time and energy on people that don't enhance our lives?