What special privileges do you extend to those for whom you have affinity? Do you let your favorite neighborhood kid mow your lawn rather than hire the job out professionally at an insignificantly higher rate? Do you have a special bar that you go to with your best buddy that you wouldn't take your wife to? Do you always hold your Saturday nights open for your significant other before all others? Do you only put together model planes with just that one nephew? Do you share a long-running inside joke with one of your co-workers that no one else gets let in on? Do you have a "thing" that's just between you and someone special to you?
When this privilege is meaningful to you, how do you know that you should extend it to the person fortunate enough to have exclusive access to it? Do you expect it to be accepted most every time it's extended? Do you need to see appreciation for the gesture? Do you have to know that they want that "thing" to be reserved just for them?
How do you deal with others who would like to have the privilege of sharing that "thing" with you, either in addition to the privileged individual or instead of him/her? Does it validate the significance of the privilege you extend exclusively to another? Does it cause you to feel that the special "thing" is enviously coveted by others? Do you feel threatened, annoyed or angered by others attempts to gain access to the "thing"? Does it provide a sense of security that you may be able to still enjoy that "thing" if the privilege is neglected?
Questions like this have led me to realize that I am deeply sentimental. It's a wake-up call to know that not everyone can understand and appreciate the sentiment in the extension of special privilege. Knowing this, and knowing that I do need others to understand and appreciate the privileges I reserve just for them, is invaluable in my efforts to continually learn to better navigate life.
