It’s due in part to my natural curiosity, but also an innate interest in others.  While I’m definitely a talker myself, I love learning more about the people around me, close friends or not.  It may just be the anthropologist in me!

I’ve learned again over the past week just how much a simple question can mean to someone.  Asking the ubiquitous “how are you” doesn’t count!

I would urge you to give it a whirl.  Next time you walk past someone at the front desk of your office building or you see the UPS guys that comes to your office every day, try asking them a question and starting a short conversation.  It may end up making their day!

As with the first Presidential debate (and it will almost assuredly be the same for the next two debates) I found the coverage after this debate to be completely unfulfilling.  And by coverage, I mean asking partisan figures to comment on their thoughts on the debates and on who they opinions as to who “won” the debates.  In the interviews that I watched, I remember ONE person commenting that though they were voting for one candidate, they thought the opposite candidate had won.

How is it helpful to ask for the opinions of someone who is partisan, when it is fairly clear what their answers will be?

This is exactly the partisanship that I referred to in my blog entry on being forced to choose between the two political parties.  In my opinion, enough with this divisiveness.  Personally, I would love to see a town hall format to these debates (with more than just four of them by the way!) with the candidates responding to the questions of everyday Americans rather than to those of a single moderator.

The more I get to hear the candidates discussing their views and proposed policies the better.  And the less the political pundits get to prattle on and on and ask questions of partisan figures who then provide us with the expected responses, the better.