The Importance of Giving People Time

One of the best feelings in the world is that of being valued and appreciated. If a person feels like someone values who they are, feelings often become mutual between parties. Humans wish to be respected by their peers and vica versa. Many a friendship, job, and employee have disappeared because this respect becomes lost.

The most direct way to obtain this respect is to give people time. When I strike a conversation up, I don’t think about how long I can talk for. I just talk. I treasure the flow of information and ideas. When presented with an alternate method of thinking I consider what is said and then respond. These methods hold true for almost every conversation I have. And they result in a fair amount of my time is consumed by conversations with strangers that I never intended to meet.

As an extrovert, I talk to everyone. People I disagree with and people I support are treated the same during a conversation. I will be more likely to talk to my friends than a stranger, but once in the middle of a conversation, I will dedicate myself to the task of making their opinion valued.

Some go through life with their blinders on like a horse. They always look straight ahead and don’t stop to talk to passers-by on their way to there destination. I do not, and my life is better for it.

One day I had stayed up to late into the night–an all too common experience for me during high school. I drank no caffeine, asked questions in almost every class, and planned to stay after school for three hours of stage crew. My friend finally cracked after watching me spend fifteen minutes talking to a lunch lady: “Do you run on fairy farts?”

No, I don’t run on fairy farts. I just believe in the power of giving people time.