"Man wishes to be confirmed in his being by man."

—Martin Buber, "Distance and Relation," in The Knowledge of Man

We need each other more than we like to admit. Not for company, not for distraction—for something simpler and harder to say out loud. We need to be seen. Really seen, by another person, and quietly told back: yes, you're real. You exist. You're allowed to be exactly what you are.

Buber says we watch for this—secretly, bashfully—because it's not something we can give ourselves. You can tell yourself you're okay all day long. It doesn't land the same way as someone else looking at you and meaning it.

The small self finds this embarrassing. It wants to be self-sufficient, needing nothing from anyone, complete on its own. But that's not how we're built. We come alive in each other's presence, or we don't come fully alive at all.

So this isn't a flaw to fix. It's just what we are—beings who need a yes from outside ourselves sometimes, and who get to offer that same yes back, freely, to everyone we meet.