simone says

“Attention is the rarest and purest form of generosity,” Simone Weil wrote once. Her life and her words have been in my mind these last few days. They came to me when this woman started to talk to me while I waited at the Laundromat. She needed to be heard, even if it was just chit-chat about her dog. I heard her words, smiled, asked a bit. Before she left, she said “thank you.” But her “thank you” felt as I had done a big thing for her, buy her a coffee, give her change for the dryer or as if I had carefully folded her clothes. I did not do any of this. I just paid attention. Not that I was trying to be rare and generous, I was only doing what I always do: listen, listen carefully.

Being listened is important, it´s just something I never think of, because I have always done it. But not everyone does it, the woman sitting next to me now is certainly not aware of the importance of listening, she is talking and talking while ignoring her friend´s face who seems to have something to say. She nods, the friend I mean, she is rare and generous, she listens, she pays attention without wondering if she will ever get a turn to say something. Anything.