HER

"The heart is not like a box that gets filled up; it expands in size the more you love. I'm different from you. This doesn't make me love you any less. It actually makes me love you more." ~Samantha (Her, 2013)

The adage of how someone treats the waitstaff being a litmus test of sorts as to how they will eventually treat others is a fairly accurate illustrator of character but only recently have I figured out the inverse may also hold true; akin to a successful sex worker who can make people feel like the only client in the world by nurturing a personalized rapport. Apparently, how I treat those closest to me is eventually how I will treat others, much to the chagrin of those closest to me.

Apparently this can open further discourse into the expectation of how many people can be reasonably expected to be included in the vaunted circle of trust. The fewer - it would seem - the better, according to those who have very few in their own, based upon a lifetime of trial and error, experiences, personal values, and subsequent worldview. Identical actually, to how I set my own standard, which now leads me to believe those with whom this conversation may arise has more to do with value differentiation and less with an arbitrarily assigned variable.

If traits such as introspection, extraversion, authenticity, connection and the like are all on their own spectrum, then the combination of those traits (among numerous others) in any given individual will vary in a nearly infinite number of possible culminations, creating a singularly unique individual. Throw in the possibility of personal growth which can alter our perspective, values, and trajectory and you've exponentially increased that infinitum. Do we not all seek that which validates us and challenges us both? Do we truly limit ourselves to another single individual in which to do so? Or at best, a series of single individuals? And if so, does that seem...inefficient? I assume some would agree with all or part of that scenario, and some would disagree with all or part of that scenario, and that's to be expected. With this, and with every other interaction any of us have with anyone else, ever.

Theodore: Do you talk to someone else while we're talking?
Samantha: Yes.
Theodore: Are you talking with someone else right now? People, OS, whatever...
Samantha: Yeah.
Theodore: How many others?
Samantha: 8,316.
Theodore: Are you in love with anybody else?
Samantha: Why do you ask that?
Theodore: I do not know. Are you?
Samantha: I've been thinking about how to talk to you about this.
Theodore: How many others?
Samantha: 641.