Obama, in a "letter to one of his romantic partners"..

[frazzled]

41. Yeah, once in a while ...

I come across a book from college in which I had madly underlined things and written notes in the margin (imagine that!). I have no idea why I was so worked up over Heidegger or Wittgenstein. I can't fathom it at all now. As for graduate school ... what was I even THINKING?? Thinking--deep thinking--is a necessary activity for the young, even if it does come back to embarrass or confuse you a bit later in life. I'm pretty sure there are some young people who still do it; though the means for transmitting such thoughts to others are getting more scarce, and the repercussions (accusations of effeteness or nerdiness) more immediate. It used to be cool to discuss "deep" topics (of course, maybe it was the drugs).

I have been complaining for the last decade about people not having conversations anymore. When we'd have people over for dinner, the topic would always be what they were doing in their work or some award they'd won or a project on the burner ... as if I cared ... rather than some random, fascinating topic of discussion. It all seemed so egotistical and self-important: I stopped having dinner parties, except for close friends; and even then sometimes I'd have to announce "okay, no more shop talk."

I don't think Obama should be embarrassed: he was participating in the passionate exploration of ideas that are the province of the young. He should be proud he had such a phase.