The Bigness of Small Talk

Mr. Rosenblatt is the author of the forthcoming book “More Rules for Aging.”

I try to let at least five people a day know that I’m thinking of them and wishing them well. Sometimes it’s in person; often I send a little email. I don’t say much more than that to my five. Thinking of you. Hope you’re thriving. That sort of thing.

Small talk, I know. Yet small talk powers human activity and human feelings much of the time.

The key to good small talk is to believe, if only for a moment, that it is just as urgent and consequential as any philosophical conundrum........

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