talking to adults

I was listening to a podcast from public radio's "This American Life" (thanks to John King for the recommendation) and there was a segment about talking to adults. It caught my attention right away, since I'm super shy around adults. For some reason I've just always felt intimidated when trying to talk to anyone more than 10 years older than me, even when they're someone who I know fairly well. The woman telling her story about talking to adults was entirely different from me in this respect, because she loved talking to adults. One of the adults she loved talking to was her psycho-analyst, and that's where I felt like we were exactly the same. I don't have a psycho-analyst or anything like that, but her reasons for enjoying talking to hers were sentiments i share exactly. She said she liked feeling like she was on a talk show, feeling like people (or at least a person) were hanging on her every word and truly caring about her thoughts and feelings. I don't think her and I are unique in that feeling. In fact, I think almost everyone, at least in the culture I know, shares in the desire to be listened to and cared about. It's what leads to blogs and songs and facebook and twitter and relationships and even prayer, and I really think it's beautiful. It can be kind of ugly when it's self-centered and prideful and one-sided, sure. But when it turns into relationships and people knowing each other closely and people opening their hearts to be known by God, it's beautiful. Wanting to be known indicates a desire for community, and community is one of the things that I find life to be most worth living for.