I was reading through the May 2009 edition of Time Magazine when a comment by Meg Ryan jumped off the pages and pointed out something spectacularly important. That’s right, Meg Ryan the actress. She wrote a short blurb on Tom Hanks for the magazine’s “The Time 100: The World’s Most Influential People.” Tom is one of the esteemed 100. In any event, Meg was rambling, almost aimlessly, about how great Tom is and how much fun he can be. The article didn’t offer much support to what made Tom so influential until she hit the home run with one quick observation. “He’s interesting because he is interested.” She went on to say he has a “wondrous capacity to wonder.”
Until reading those words I honestly hadn’t considered before how many of the people I would call influential in my life had the quality of being interested. Interested not just in me, but in everything around them. They reached beyond themselves and took in any and all information their surroundings had to offer. Questions were asked for answers, not for conversation’s sake. Observations were made for knowledge and not for ego. I suppose when you think of what it takes to be influential, being able to understand or relate to those we share our environment would play a heavy role.
Now my mind is flipping through the people I’ve encountered in my life who clearly wanted the power of influence, but who just couldn’t quite get there. Many did seem to be missing the inclination to take a genuine interest in anyone or anything other than themselves. Now isn’t that something to think about? And all because of Meg Ryan.
I love it. It reminds me of the natural curiosity of children, who, like sponges, absorb so much in such a short time and they’re intensely interested and wondrous. Some way along the path to adulthood, we do seem to lose a lot of that. I hope not to lose it all.
You know, I was watching Jay Leno last night. On it, Wanda Sykes and Jay were taking about the Obamas, and Wanda made kind of the same comment about them. She said that our president and first lady don’t just talk to you or around you. When you speak with them, they actually take the time to get to know you and take a real interest in you.
The world would be a much nicer and warmer place if people took the time to actually get to know one another and stop judging so harshly.