It was interesting reading the above. It also make me a little sad.
You are in that stage of your life when learning and expanding your mind is prime. I hope you can continue to feel that way well into old age.
However, I also hope that at the same time, you also grow wiser.
Did you feel I insulted you? What I said was needed (so I feel) because of something you said:
I prefer to stay at home with book for example, instead of going out to meet people who won't challenge me and make me grow.
I have only 2 friends and girlfriend, who do this to me. It's not about quantity - but quality.
I'll give you an example - the man I have admired most in my life is my father. He grew up in a tiny village in Cyprus, had to walk kilometres each day to go to school at another village and did so with his shoes in hand so that they do not wear down.
He worked, saw an opportunity and started a business and by the time he died he had:
Written poetry and books, some of them translated into 3 languages (pre web days)
At his wealthiest (in the 1970's was worth close to $100m) but with Alzheimers he ended up losing most of it
As a Greek, in the days of british snobbism and colonies, he was invited to give the Brits a talk on British Literature
He was a gentle man who secretly paid for children who needed operations to get back their sight, fix their spine and so on. He even tried keeping it a secret from us, his kids, but luckily his wife (stepmom) was too proud of him to keep his secret for him
Now, this is where I come back to you in an indirect manner.
We would often go on holiday to Cyprus. We would leave him at a local kafeneion (coffee shop) with the old men of the village and he would play backgammon and sit for hours talking.
I finally asked him how he can do it, seeing that usually his company is with intelligent men and women, poets, diplomats, self-made wealthy people who exude strength and intelligence, and he told me, "These people, it is not them who are ignorant or stupid, it is you who make them seem to be so. Find yourself the most ignorant man and take the trouble to get to know him and you will discover he has learnt lessons from life that you have not."
I now live in Africa. Often I meet local people who have not had any schooling and if they can find a job, it is as labourers. I open up and talk with them and it is shocking, for, once they start to trust me, they show me that they do see what the government is doing that is wrong; they still believe in honesty and being fair. They have their own ideas and dreams and as my father said, life has taught them much that I envy - for it means their minds, hearts and souls are brighter in certain ways than my own.
Are you still insulted that I wished on you a continuous and growing wisdom?