I’m Buying Your Interest

No – interest can’t be bought.
One can buy your time – almost certainly.
An apartment – if you have one.
You, wholesale – if you clicked “Accept all cookies.”
But interest? That’s yours alone.
Even if you wanted to give it away – you couldn’t.

Interests rarely change.
Yes, there are fleeting ones – you don’t even have time to notice them.
But there are also long, deep ones – the kind that shape your future for years.

Imagine you’re playing Durak (the Russian card game).
And your opponent keeps the same five cards in his hand the entire game.
You’d want to know what those cards are, wouldn’t you?

Or maybe he isn’t even hiding them.
Maybe he’s been holding them out for you to see all along – and you just never ask.

And when you finally do, he’ll say:
“Let’s go find another durak – you understand me now. That means you’re no fool.”

So how do you understand someone else’s interests?
Just walk up, take their hand, and ask:
“Where do you see yourself in five years?”
…Okay, okay – that’s a bit much.

But in real life, talking about the future is almost always met with warmth. I can’t remember a single time someone took “what drives you?” as an attack and cut the connection on the spot.

It’s been a while since I started caring about other people’s interests. Yes, not all of them fit into my frame of reference. Some are plainly repulsive. But the ones that intersect with mine make me stronger – and make stronger the people around me.

So – do whatever you want with that.
But taking an interest in interests isn’t such a bad interest.

Author’s note: In the card game Durak, the loser is called the “durak” – literally, a “fool.”