Priorities and options

Sometimes, work has a soporific effect on me... today, it was rather because of the fatigue in my body... my usual shot of caffeine did not help much either! So, to keep myself awake, I started messaging a few of my friends on Orkut... a simple form of amusement I guess... :P Anyways, I came across a statement in one of my friend's profiles... really interesting declaration... here it goes:

"Never make someone a priority if they consider you an option"

It got me thinking... My mind started going into an overdrive (probably trying to keep itself awake, I guess... lol), weighing the pros and cons of the remark.

Is it really right that we should not make someone a priority if we are just an option for that person? Oh... by the way, if this is true, how applicable is this theory with respect to other issues in life? For instance, consider this situation of employment that might arise. Given a choice between an offer from a company who really wants you, and another from one who have you just as an option; the latter having a slight advantage over the former, what should you choose? Should you prioritize the latter offer even though you are just one among many options for them? Or should you choose the former where you are considered a priority? Of course, there are a lot of other factors that go into making such a decision...

I guess I digressed from the topic, an annoying habit of mine I haven't been able to get rid of... as much as I have tried :P... anyhow, coming back to the topic of human interaction, I think we should really be careful how we interpret this statement. When it comes to the normal course of interaction with people, such as social networking, friendships and the like, if we really start weighing the priorities placed by others in the interaction or relationship, we might eventually end up with nothing at all... It is the aggregate of all experiences in our life that make us who we are right now... the painful experiences as well as the pleasant encounters...

But we should really know where to draw the line, so to speak! If we feel that we are just giving too much of ourselves for something, that is just a whim or a fancy for the other person involved... Well, it is time to think... Are we really just an option? Do we really want to make them a priority? I guess, at such a juncture, it would do our own self esteem a world of good, as well as the others who care about us, if we realise the truth of the situation and move on... When this happens with casual acquaintances or even some friends, it gets quite challenging to face it... but it gets far too worse when it happens with closer friends or when love is involved! The most important thing to realise is that any interaction or a relationship is a two-way street... as you sow, so you reap... ;)

I personally feel that we should try to keep ourselves as satisfied and upbeat as possible... not always feasible, but well... when we reach a certain saturation point, we do come to the stage where being mournful doesn't help and it just seems too pathetic... lol! And we should then try to be happy with ourselves.. try to make others happy... try to help people who really need it... this always surely helps! And finally, trying to get back to the topic of discussion (before I go off along another tangent... lol), I feel we should always have this remark about priorities and options in the back of our mind, but we should look at life with a more positive outlook (the eternal optimist in me trying to peek out here I guess...).