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Went to church yesterday, and the sermon was about different ways that Jesus defines himself in different portions of the Bible — actually, I think all these definitions are within the book of John — such as “I am the gate” or “I am the bread of life,” etc. At the end, in trying to tie different things together, the pastor said something like “Everyone wants to matter.” That resonated with me, even though as I looked around the church, probably 35% of people were on their phones at that moment. I have a constant desire to be seen — it’s probably part of, if not the entirety of, why I drink — and I think that belonging and inclusion are some of the heartbeats of the human condition, even if they’ve been co-opted into shitty HR buzzwords for our professional lives.
I posted something akin to “People just want to feel as if they matter” on Facebook later in the day (boredom), and in true social media fashion, most of the comments were about the use of the word “just” — “I have problems thinking humans just want to do any one thing, Ted” — or about what the word “matter” means. I suppose both are valid criticisms of the post, but also wholly indicative of the social media semantics rabbit hole we often fall into.
I don’t know if there is an universally-accepted definition for “matter,” but I would say feeling like people care about you, care about your…
