What are you interested in?

If men could only know each other, they would neither idolize nor hate.
- Elbert Hubbard

Sometimes, when I get together with people I see regularly, like my friends, boyfriend, even family members, we seem to review the conversation we had the last time we talked. Who is each person dating and how is that going? What are the current problems or solutions at work? How are the respective kids and hubby doing? Oftentimes, after reviewing the same conversations more than twice, with very little headway, I get bored, zone out and probably come off as being a very rude friend who acts upon her obvious lack of interest. In the past, I’ve complained about the recurring topics but really did nothing to include more interesting tidbits of information into our regular conversations.

Then a couple of days ago I was riding in a car with a friend and we got into Venezuelan politics, before I knew it my friend was talking up a storm, shooting off statistics that support her personal opinion like a fine tuned machine gun. Although I try to keep current on the political comings and goings of Venezuela, I am nowhere near as knowledgeable (or devoted) as my friend but I found that her passion made me want to learn more so that we can discuss the issues when we see each other again. It was like finding a treasure I thought existed but had never ventured to find. This experience with Gaby made me realize that many times we are content with the superficial small talk that reviews what we already know about the person, and that getting off the dizzying loop may mean finding out what they are interested, doing a bit of reading, and bringing it up when you see them again.