I detest small talk because it lacks everything I love about conversing.

Conversation is a dance. There’s reciprocity, thought, debate and exchange.

With conversation, you learn something. Sometimes it’s small, some trivial knowledge you hadn’t previously picked up. Other times you learn something fascinating about the world, or some new idea that shifts your perspective.

In the best conversations, you learn something about the other person. In these special moments, we let our guards down just a little. We reveal parts of ourselves that we might otherwise keep close.

This unintended communion is one of the greatest aspects of the human experience.