Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Ask me again tomorrow night, right after the kick-off alumni association event, and I might give you a surly, misanthropic answer, but as of right now, I’m still on the sociability train. It’s been a moderately long stint–in humankind, I suppose–going on close to a year now, and as for how it’s managed to last this long, well, your guess is as good as mine.

It’s a difficult proposition, especially for me, to be more giving with my time and interpersonal bandwidth. Indeed, I can count at least two, three instances in the last week alone when I asked myself, “Why am I even doing this?” But I’ve been repeatedly steamrolling over these thoughts, in the interest of being a better person, and rather than question, I’ve just been doing. And, sure enough, it’s gotten easier. September will mark the anniversary of this shift in self, complete with a return trip to Indy, and all signs point to a continued commitment to people.

It’s almost like a mandate, you know? The last sermon I heard, in fact, was about the importance of relationships. Nothing too crazy, right? But when you consider the low frequency with which I attend church, the statistical probability of a timely message is all the more poignant. There have been concrete benefits, make no mistake. If I thought I was proficient in reading people before, for instance, it’s gotten that much easier to do so. Small talk has purpose now. And, on the whole, I’d say I have a more optimistic outlook. Not the saccharine, annoying brand of optimism, to be clear, so much as a moderate sense of hope, simmering right under the surface. That’s all you’re going to get, honestly.