Comments and Observations

Warning: navel gazing ahead.

Yesterday I wrote a post, which started out talking about an e-mail that I'd received from an acquaintance who's a doctor out in Los Angeles. I went on at some length, talking about how I really enjoyed hearing from her, and wondering why I enjoy hearing from her. My conclusion was that it was because she's a bright person, and I like hearing from bright people. For some reason, it's important to me to know bright people. Somehow, it validates me. Not sure why. After a while, I realized that I was uncomfortable with the public display of wimpiness in that part of the post, so I took it off.

I think that everybody gets a sense of validation from other people and from their environment. I don't think there's anything wrong with that. It would be nice if we could all self- validate (is that a word?), but I don't think we can. I think that this need for external validation explains a great deal of why we have "celebrity endorsements". So maybe she's my celebrity endorsement? I'm worthwhile, because I eat the same cereal that Brad Pitt does, I'm sexy, because I drive the same kind of car that a good-looking guy in an ad does, and I'm smart, because a smart person deigns to talk to me?

Not at all sure, but one of these days I'll figure it out.