Needed

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The entire sum of existence is the magic of being needed by just one person.
Vi Putnam

Ms Putnam was referring to the ache we feel as human beings to 'belong' to someone, the desire too deep and too integral to our existence to ignore what draws us, as steel to a magnet, to another. We're all needed by someone whether we know it or not. It seems to be a mark of adulthood to accept that condition and not dismiss it or run away. Notice, too, that Putnam doesn't say condition, or state, or reality--she says 'magic'. Imagine that: the 'magic of being needed'. Responsibility? Yes, quite a lot of it. But when examined closely it's the responsibility to be who we need to be ourselves, to aspire to the level of humanity we ourselves deserve to find. In the end it seems we are needed by ourselves, too. Could this be the ultimate form of love and connection, the simple 'magic' of becoming the person we know we are, by being needed by one other person?