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Yes, it’s going to be one of those relatively severe posts.
Humans, and many animal species for that matter (unless you are one of those crazy orcas), are inherently social and want to interact with each other. Even though it might not seem like the case with some people who like isolationism and loneliness (ex., me), there is generally a social pyramid that people adhere to. They classify people around them as in.
Of course, no two people have the same social classifications as others, as it depends entirely on their thought process and who you are as an individual being. But this is a general template that I believe, in my wretched mind, can be modified either slightly or drastically in an “essay-ish” form that I can put myself behind.
But before I get into this, you might wonder what the SCP Foundation has to do with this, which is an entirely fair question.
For the uninitiated, the SCP Foundation is a copypasta that originated on the World Wide Web in 2008 and grew until it became, as I call it, “mainstream-adjacent.” The Foundation is a fictitious organization with anomalies that don’t follow natural laws.
What does this have to do with friendship status levels? This: in the fictional universe, personnel have specific security clearances that give them access to certain information. Some more than others. Something that I believe can be used to also relate directly to the real world.
Or you could presume this is me being a nerd trying to sound more “hip” than I am. It's your choice; I won’t judge either way.
Level -1/D Class
Most of this will be levels, but I had to include D Class in a SCP writing somewhere. So here we are!
People who mentally fall under this level are people you actively dislike and harbor grudges. To attain this level, you must have done multiple horrible and bad things that you have nothing but disdain towards them. I hope that you will never need to interact with them in any form.
Of course, you don’t want people on this level. It’s not healthy. People should try to see the best in others. But there will inevitably be a point of return. Like the Trashcan Man. (Which I will one day explain in a post that I have been holding off on for three years)
In short, this is for people who you actively don’t like and look down upon.
Level 0/”Official”
99.9% (and some change) of the human population falls under this category. You might see these people in passing but have no relation to them. You are neutral towards them. Classmates isn’t even a good term to describe them more like people who may “fall” in the same circles as you, but not really. Not a word is spoken between them. If you keep your cards correct, you go under the radar, and they don’t need to know who you are.
One would argue that a “public” writer such as myself needs to interact with new people. But why worry about people with nothing in common? Case in point.
Level 1/”Confidential”
We have reached the point where these are no longer completely random strangers. No, these are people who have interacted with you more than twice in a positive way, and there are no hostile feelings to be felt.
Classmates, throwaway emails to clients, people you may interact with occasionally—but not people with whom you will just go into a conversation in a room. No, there needs to be a time and a place to interact with these. If there isn’t, you just smile and wave, like the penguins say.
Most of the people from my summer trips also fall into this category, as I have lost enough contact, and it would effectively start anew if a conversation arose. One would call it a shame; I call it moving through life.
Finally, people who follow me on social media are at the very least on this category. I don’t allow people who can’t acknowledge me to have access to my accounts. Simple as that.
Level 2/”Restricted”
This category includes slightly distant acquaintances and classmates who I am willing to talk to. People I have known for a (very) long time are also included. It is more common to delve into subjects outside of the original topic at hand.
A notable example I’ll bring up is my Government class. There are 4 of us in a group, and we often go off-task to talk about weird things. But it’s never too far, and we usually do well on the projects. But it’s still a switch on what I say in front of them. There’s still a facade.
Level 3/”Secret”
We continue rising the ranks and begin encountering people who may know us deeper than those who came before. People whom you may consider to be your friends, even those who are partially in name only.
These people may know things that the common person doesn’t, and you think of them as decent/good people overall. There aren’t that many out there, but when you do, it’s a nice thing to see a familiar face.
Level 4/”Top Secret”
Friends are the only ones to occupy these echelons from here on out. People who are this high up are those you have known for a while and trust to a certain extent. They know quite a bit about you, and you can have worthwhile conversations with them on the fly. You might hang out with them outside of where you usually meet them, call them in your spare time, etc.
As you get higher and higher, the numbers dwindle. You might have started with a lot of people, possibly hundreds. But there shouldn’t be that many. Or maybe you do; who knows at this point?
Level 5/”The Council”
These are the closest friends one could have. You talk to them daily, or at least often enough that it seems like daily. They are often advisors that you go to in times of need and vice versa. Everything from Level 4 applies here, but there is a mutual understanding of just how great the friendship is.
I myself have less than four people in this position. None of them know each other, which makes it good when you need opinions and fresh air about something you don’t want to deal with regarding something else.
Now, you might think that this ladder is absurd, which is fair in its own right. However, everyone has their ladder. It might not be exactly like this. It might have just two steps or 20. Whatever the case, every one of us has a ladder on which social connections lie. Something that is not dependent on an algorithm in name only.
Author's Note
As with all of the general posts, I have had this one rattling in my head for the better part of the month. Looking at it from that angle, this is one of the "quickest" posts to come into fruition!
The next two posts have already been scheduled accordingly. Next week's post will be normal time, but the one after that may be released at a slightly different time. But we'll see what happens.
Thanks for reading. See you next week!
