Learn People

I must've read it somewhere, or perhaps some wise person spoke while I happened to be listening. "A person's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never returns to its original shape." Seems true...

But then why does it sometimes feel like we need to learn the same lessons over and over again, each time faltering in nearly identical ways. Does learning require hurt? A sore mind like a sore quadricep after squats. I'm learning about people. I'm learning that I don't understand most people. Being able to predict behaviour and response doesn't equal understanding. It might only be the product of voluminous observation. Spend enough time with someone, you'll learn to anticipate their actions. Spend enough time observing many different people, you'll start to form a subconscious expectation of how people in general will respond to their environments and situations. But that's all that is: an expectation. Bound to eventually, or every once in a while, be unmet. And it is because of a lack of understanding.

A question arises inside me. How genuinely interested, or determined, am I to understand someone else? And if I am, why? Determination, more so than interest alone, because I consider it no easy task.

The question is too large for this blog post. I'm too tired to write that much. Nor can I be sure my thoughts on the matter are worth words.

Gazing out at the wet wet snow. Glistening and alive the night, the streetlights turn into stage lights.