People Change

I’ve always considered myself an astute observer of the human condition since I can first remember. As I’m sure most people can recall, watching our parent(s) is the beginning of fashioning our curiosity about people in general. That is to say, I’ve always found myself wondering exactly what makes people tick. I guess you could say that is why I have always found myself attracted to the social sciences. Subjects such as history, political science, psychology, sociology, anthropology, etc… always enthralled me in school and still do for that matter. I am never one to assume much about people I meet (until I get to know them), as these previously listed social sciences have told me that there is always a reason behind why people are the way they are.

Whenever I meet someone new, I’m always inclined to make conversation about their present, past, and future moments in their lives. I have noticed that people are always inclined to speak of their families, friends, relationships, pets, what they wish to become, or even what they think of our current leaders (if they even know). By creating a synthesized time line in my mind, I can construct a general “inner picture” of that person. I do it because I want to know if that person is to be of long term “value” to me, i.e. if they are stimulating. This is just my method for attempting to decipher people; we all have a method, we just don’t think about it. Of course, there is always much more to be told about any individual, which obviously takes a longer commitment to that person if I am to find out if my generalized time line is accurate.

The beauty of human society is that it facilitates our social evolution. My 88 year old grandmother is always telling me how amazed she is how the world has evolved into what it is today. The prior generation’s societal experiences are incomprehensible to most of us, including myself. I cannot fathom myself in say, 1930 with my current accumulation of experiences. I wouldn’t fit in if I tried. If you happen to be reading, you are probably wondering what the point of all this rant is? I’m glad you asked.

If you look back at what has been written thus far, you will see that this rant has evolved into something generalized and vague into this point: Life is about evolution. I’m not talking about Darwinism evolution (biological), but the evolution of the individual. We all change in that sense. You could say that everyday our perceptions of the world change, whether we meet a new person or even go to work. The common saying goes that we learn something new everyday unless we are dead. The brain is an awesome sponge for this purpose. People change.