One can sink you. Another can keep you anchored in place, and still another can keep you safely near the shore. The last one will fill your sails to send you to new places.
Each kind of person is out there.
It’s your choice which to bring into your life.
arabedrossian.org 
the choice is both ways though, so depending how many people chose a specific person, their choice might be limited. it is not like going to a grocery store… My point, some people only seem to have bad choices if they do not proactively seek others outside their immediate circle, which is what I think this post was all about.
Yes, Ford, I didn’t mean anyone you choose will reciprocate the friendship. In fact, we have different definitions, levels of friendship, which goes back to my idea that you decide who your friend is. If we don’t choose, then we are at the mercy of our environment, at worst…and at best, we’re being reactive instead of proactive, as you said. And given the wide variety of people in the world, we’re so limiting our human experience if we do this.