I was thinking today about how we are drawn to those aspects of people we know that are either aspirational or cautionary. As in, “You won an Oscar?! Tell me more.” or “You were in prison?! Tell me more.” It’s always these extremes that we tend to want to ask questions about.

We seldom ask about the quotidian banalities except in a perfunctory manner. “Where are you from? Do you have any siblings?” Those questions lead to the ones we really want to know about.

I don’t know if this is a healthy thing for humans but it seems universal. We want to experience that which lies outside our own understanding.