People Who Need People

Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been trying to figure out what my passion in life is.  There are lots of things I enjoy doing, but figuring out what makes me tick, what I have to have to exist has been difficult to say the least.  Then one morning a friend called unexpectedly.  Suddenly the humdrum day faded away.  You see I’m someone who needs and wants other people in my life on a daily basis.  My passion is people.

You may be thinking, “Hey everybody needs people”, and you’re right.  However, connecting with others and forming meaningful relationships is as essential to me as breathing.  Relationships with other people give me energy and contribute to my well being.  How?  Well, people fascinate me.  Their stories are riveting.  They make me laugh.  They make me think and wonder and question.

My passion for people extends to little ones, too.  I think that’s why I decided to teach.  It fulfilled my desire to work with others, and it enabled me to ignite the passions of young people.  Meeting parents and listening to their stories helped me to better understand them and their children.  It helped me build connections with families.  Even though I’m retired now, I still go back to the classroom to volunteer.  The people pull me back in.  Conversing with teachers, reading to classes, tutoring children, and helping teachers with their piles of work brings me contentment.  It’s all about establishing relationships.

So whenever given the choice of working by myself or with a small group, I rarely choose by myself.  There’s comfort in working with others, and there’s the give and take of ideas.  I feel like a better solution or product is created when I exchange thoughts with others, and I learn so much more.

Being around people, listening to them, and they to me enables me to become more sympathetic to the plights, big or small, of others.  Closing myself off from people, makes me become more remote and less caring.  My passion for people gives me opportunities to reach out to help others.  In other words I might join a group for a sense of fellowship, but by being a part of the group I’m able to see and address the needs of others near and far.

Relationships matter a great deal to me.  They add a sense of purpose and direction to my life.  And to top it off, Barbra Streisand thinks I’m the luckiest person in the world.  After all “people who need people…”.

Happy 2017!