the interester, interested and interesting, interested in interested, and interested to be so

I meet many people who profess interest in things. They say this interests them, that interests them. They profess engagement; they profess serious engagement. They feel they are better in some way for having serious interests. It's good to be alive, I feel. I like being alive. To be alive is to be interested. The world itself is interesting. The same people tell you about their interests. If one is lucky, they tell you about the interest itself rather than themselves. I see those as good days. Mostly, though, they tell you about themselves. One might assume reciprocity from this; one might think that reciprocity is guaranteed a fortiori; since one has patiently listened and faithfully reacted. Hardly. Monlogue is too often, in fact almost always, the order of the day. So I say: are you interested? And I add: are you you really interested? The sophists continue; since it is clearly their world.