On the way out the door, my mom said you know “you are who your friends are.” That evening, as I ran around with my friends, her words kept floating around in my head. That’s how all the best old sayings are; they stick in your head whether you want them to or not. Of course, this is the kind of old saying that young people sometimes hate. Young people want to believe they can run with any group they want but maintain their separate identities and make their own decisions. We live in a time when parents, schools, and churches are increasingly teaching tolerance and saying to treat everyone the same. Old sayings like this might sometimes seem like prejudice or intolerance. Can we both be tolerant and heed warnings like you are who your friends are; one bad apple can spoil the whole bunch, and if you lie with dogs, you end up with flees. All of these sayings are warnings to be careful about our associations. This is one of the more difficult things we must learn in life. Deciding who to be friends with is not easy, and sometimes, we are not in a position to pick our friends.  Sometimes, events seem to conspire to place us together with other people. All these sayings simply remind us that we are responsible for making positive decisions about our associations. We can be tolerant, open-minded, and forgiving, but we must also learn to say no to a friend or peer group. Sometimes, we may need to end a friendship or physically get up and leave a situation. This is not easy for anyone of any age, but it can be especially difficult for teens. These old sayings can help remind us to make deliberate and thoughtful decisions about whom we associate with and under what circumstances.