Troublemakers

Those of you who know me know that I have been pretty rageful the last month or so. Happy, yes, but also a raging mess of fire and venom. Current "spiritual friends," as she calls them, are hipsters, the MTA, and, more often than I would like to admit, my actual friends.
I also really love Pema Chodron, and love this talk. My initial feeling is that Troublemakers are only "spiritual friends" if you approach them from that angle and are able to detach from your annoyance and understand that it is not you, in order to understand what it is really telling you about yourself. The story she tells at the end, however, would imply that these people have value to you even if you are identifying with how much you can't stand them.
As with anything in the realm of yoga, thought, and meditation, there isn't really a conclusion. But the idea I am working with right now is that there is potential value in such things, much like there is potential value in a piece of soil. Make of it what you will.