we are whome we meet

"we are the sum total of the people we meet in our lives" this was a dialogue in an english movie i was watching yesterday.
At first i didnt gather much out of it as the movie continues and u dont get much time to ponder over the words said.
but it stuck with me and later on when i think of my life this simple sentence holds much weight.
all the people who have come in touch with me for a considerable period of time have had an effect on what kind of person i have eventually turned out to be.
without a conscious effort we imbibe certain qualities of our friends , colleagues or anyother person for that matter with whome we converse
or meet regularly.no one is fortunate enough to have only good influence in their lives.sometimes we are duped emotionally , financially or in any other way
that leaves a scar in  our mind.not only does this make us more cautious in future but also less experimenting and less trusting in most cases
which eventually leads us into a self prepared safe cocoon.
it takes not just time but good future dealings with people to get out and be more of our self and less of what people have made us.
 A man is known by the company he keeps- I'd heard this a lot around school time but always thought that its not completely true.
my justification used to be that even if our friends are taking wrong paths its not necessary that we may take them too.
but with time and experience I know that with people who are more than your friends you get carried away in their beliefs and eventually start making them your
own. Its a gradual process and one which you are not even aware of while it happens. so before we put our faith in people lets not ignore their past history
of wrong doings as old habits die hard and in some cases they never die.
and in the end no matter how much we try to be on our own our life will always be influenced by those around us whether we like it or not.