Talk To Me

How many times do you think you actually talk to someone? I'm not talking about small talk or a non-chalant exchange of words and stories, but to truly sit down and talk with someone...?

Our day is filled with conversations, but how many of them do we completely engage ourselves in, if any? Or is it just not something to concern ourselves with? Are we too caught up in our own lives to stop and listen to someone else? Is there a time when the talking needs to end?

I don't know my answer to any of these questions, but a recent conversation I had made me think about this. When all you have is words, talking to someone becomes seemingly more important, but what if you find you just don't engage each other in conversation anymore? I guess I'm rambling...anyway...what do you think? Talk to me. ;)

Hmm wow, that has me thinkin.

Well, I'm not much for talking, but I always wanna listen...hmm so the fact that im shy keeps me from really ever talking to anyone. It pisses me off too...

I've been thinking about this thread since I posted it, and so I'm back. If I was to be honest with myself, I would say that I might have one true conversation with another person, where we actually engage each other in discussion, an exchange of ideas, and provide feedback to each other with thoughtful responses. Which, when you think about it, is rather sad, when you compare it to all the talking I do with my friends, family, professors, and other acquaintances on a daily basis. Maybe there is such a lack of true talking because our lives are so filled with other things. Our minds are constantly mulling over what we need to do for the day, so that we don't devote our time and energy to a good conversation. If you think about it, "How Are You?" has lost much of it's meaning. In other countries, this is a question that will open up a long detailed discussion. They ask each other this because they genuinely care. I must ask and get asked this question about 20 times a day, and the only thing that comes of it is a monosyllabic response.

Is there a time when the talking needs to end? Maybe. Perhaps it's best to not talk when we have things that need to be thought out, worked out, before we can genuinely engage another person in talking. But I think that's an incredibly hard decision to make.

As for the last question I asked, I'm not going to reply. Because I still haven't figured that one out yet.

But, I thought that this was a truly interesting topic. It makes you think...when they ask me, "How are you?" do they really care, or is it just a piece of information they can file away for future reference throughout the rest of the day...:rolleyes:

I think we talk a lot for not saying anything...

Yeah, "How Are You?" has lost much of it's meaning. Just as the phrase "I hate you". Most of the time people say this, they dont actually HATE that person, if they did, they would be taking much more drastic measures to display their hatred than saying that phrase. I think phrases such as "How are you?" are pretty much presently said just out of courtesy. Personally, if someone asks, i want them to actually care.

I guess i engage in true exchanges of ideas a couple of times everyday, i have a friend, who's always thinking about things other than the simple subjects that come about in other conversations. We always exchange ideas, on religion, psychology, physics, beliefs on things going on in the world. It may seem kind of nerdy to some people, but it's actually a lot of fun.

every day. i make it a point to actually stop talking to other people (online or otherwise) and actually talk about life or about the person's likes and dislikes. i stayed up till 2 talking with this one girl about her life. it's really refreshing.

i dont think i actually talk to people enough. the people i could actually talk to are all at different schools and we all know you cant have a real convo over IM (its evil). but i miss it a lot, im sick of the same ol college "whats your major" type of convorsations. they get old fast.
Rich

I am fortunate. I have 2 people with whom I can engage in intellectual conversation. I have my "oldest" female friend, and my newest male friend. As for the female, we don't have much in common anymore since she's more conservative and I'm more open, but we can still get in my car, drive to our favorite coffee shop, and talk for hours on end. Heck! We went out for coffee at 8:00pm the other night, and didn't get home until 12:20am... an hour and a half of which was spent nearly walking into the city of Pittsburgh from the suburbs!!! :eek:

As for the guy: He and I met on the phone via a mutual friend. After sending IMs for a while, we started calling eachother on the phone, and we would spend from 11pm to 5am holding meaningful conversations. Granted, that has died down a bit since calling is expensive, as is driving 800 miles round-trip, but we can still talk to the other like we can't anyone else... It's truly awesome!