The older I get, the more I think that one of the most important skills of adulthood is just pretending to give a shit about stuff you could care less about in order to make the person presenting the care-less info to you feel better. I literally do this 10–12 times/day. People send me texts about inane shit, and I respond with an actual response. Most people I have in my orbit do the exact opposite, and just don’t respond. I literally texted a multi-decade friend of mine about IVF the other day — seems like a big topic — and, days on, no response. I can type “Good luck!” in 2 seconds. Why is this so hard for people? Maybe you don’t give a flying fuck about my wife’s egg retrieval. In reality, you probably don’t. But if I provided you the information, you should respond in kind with “Prayers!” or “Good luck!” or some such. At the point of response, I almost do not care whether you actually care. I just want the response. So lob that bad boy over the fence in 2–3 seconds, and go back to your actual life.
I would love to come out here and talk about “deeper connections” and the like. Talk about “being empathetic to others.” But the reality is, most people have a very specific nexus (locus) of control, and can only manage certain things in an hour, day, or week — and some days are bad, and you forget to respond, and yadda yadda…
