Lost Art Of Conversation

One of my daughter's friends graced me with her company the other day during her lunch break. What I like about this girl is her absolute forthrightness, making for easy conversation since with her what you see is what you get and my mind didn't have to continually monitor each word and intonation to prevent any misunderstanding. As is, I am working with only half a brain and the memory of a gnat and would have hated to do or say anything to make her think her friend's mom is weird.

After a few bites of frozen pizza freshly out of the toaster oven, and the brief breaking the ice back-and-forth, she confided that she is having a great deal of difficulty making friends. She works and goes to school, she is personable, attractive and well-spoken, and yet despite the many people she meets in the course of her days, she hasn't made any new friends since she graduated high school 2 years ago. She wasn't complaining that she didn't have a love interest, because she does; she was telling me that there are no friendly women around. Astonished that she said this, I shared with her that my daughter was having the very same problem, and my daughter was finding that she can relate more readily with the foreign exchange students at her school than any American female. These girls are not social pariahs, so what gives?

My daughter's friend said she feels people have lost the fine art of verbal communication--and that American women in general are way too catty to other women because they seem to think only in terms of competition for men.

Well, I guess this would put the caboche on any effort to develop natural telepathy. What would be the point--to have people relay blips and bleeps to each other?