A Curious Interest

I met with a friend and ex-colleague this week, someone whom I hadn't seen or heard from for almost 20 years. One thing that struck me in our conversation was her distinction between 'curiosity' and 'interest'. Curiosity is about intrigue, fascination, inquisitiveness. Interest is about relationship, empathy, a desire to understand. We joked about whether we had decided to meet after all this time out of curiosity (e.g. would we still look the same, what has happened in our lives etc.) or genuine interest (a desire to re-connect, to re-establish relationship). Maybe curiosity is something about fulfilling a need within oneself whereas interest is in some way concerned with mutuality or the needs of the other. As someone who feels naturally interested in people, I was challenged to think about the quality of interest I take in those around me - family, workplace, neighbourhood etc. - and how often my interest stays at the level of curiosity. That's quite a challenge.