Once, one of our then teen-aged daughters showed me a sefer that included a commentary on the quote from Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) "הרחק משכן רע ואל תתחבר לרשע" - "Stay far away from a bad neighbor and do not connect yourself to an evil person ."
The author of the book, HaRav Baharan zt"l, asked whether it should not be reversed - "Don't become connected to a bad neighbor, and stay far away from an evil person"?
He answered that an evil person is someone who exhibits some sort of objectionable behavior, but if you know what you believe in, while you may not wish to maintain a close connection with this person, you need not necessarily stay far away.
A bad neighbor, however, is someone in whose presence your self-esteem is diminished, and that is someone you must stay far away from, for he may affect you in a far more harmful way.
Daughter's comment: Is that the way abba (daddy) makes you feel?
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