What Does It Mean to Know Someone?

In the grad program that I'm in, there's this big emphasis on getting to know each other. I understand that they want us to feel comfortable interacting with each other, but what does it mean to know someone? I'm not sure. Here are my reasons:

• You may not think that someone knows you but that person may know something about you that you may not even know. This idea came across from one of my favorite lecturers/mentors at Poly. When we had to write an expository essay about ourselves, he ended up saying, "Have you ever thought that as your teacher that I know things about you that you may not even know?" I believe this true because Ms. Johnson could totally peg what kind of student I was. When she described what kind of learner/student I was, it helped me make better sense of myself in a way I wouldn't have thought of.

• There's too many different layers to a person. I've been with my hubster for almost 10 years and I still learn new things about him. For example, I randomly asked him if he could have any super power what would it be. His joke answer was: X-ray vision. Then, he changed it to saving people's lives. I would never have been able to predict either of those answers!

I believe in the value of talking to a person and learning about them. There you go! Rather than saying I'm getting to know a person, I'm learning about the person. Using the term, "learning" allows for the continuous growth of information that you gather about a person.

I know that this is a super random blog, actually not that random because I did provide a relevant context. Well, the context is relevant for me at least. But, it's really just food for thought rather than my usual narrative. :)