Yes.

I have a friend who is extremely intelligent, endlessly curious and was raised in a locally well-established and notoriously generous and civic-minded family. So he was raised in that milieu of sincere kindness and generosity, and whenever he’s come across anything that interests him (which is seemingly something new every week) he seriously researches it until he understands it.

So it pretty much doesnt matter what the topic is - he knows something about it, but his personality has been shaped so that he’s attentive and considerate rather than pedantic and self-absorbed. I’ve lost track of the number of times I’ve seen him engage in obviously mutually enjoyable conversations with complete strangers over… pretty much anything.

I vacillate between thinking that it’s remarkable that he’s the way he is and that it’s remarkable, in a different sense, that that’s so uncommon.

Yes, and I think I learned, in general, how to focus on anything by observing them do it. She was my first major, unattainable, love. She was just zeroed in, always, and I knew I had to learn the skill. I still can’t do it to the level she does, but it’s a remarkable skill to work on. Even at amateur levels, it’s extremely useful.

I have met few people that can even accept my experience without trying to twist it into their own.

Yes, I literally teach classes on how to do this, and why it’s hard