Power of acknowledgement

I have been thinking why do we have such a need to have people acknowledge our existence? I know people that need others to constantly give attention to, and others that are very famously happy to be by themselves, in their own world. I think we all go thru stages when we can be bits of both, but the personality of a person I believe is kind of "set" in a certain matter, changing ever soo slowly as the years go by. You can see when a person wants to change their inner character when one sees modification in the way they speck, act and interact with others, when experiences, inner thinking, meeting goals and people all help that modification to a better or thats face it, worst human bean.

I have seen primary school children do this, write out a list of the "good' people and "bad" people in their lives.Since I was a child, I have done that over the years...write out a list of friends and cross out the ones I no longer click with, broken my trust or devalue who i am in some way. Of course excuse are made and modificates to find something "good' in that friendship to allow it the float the sea of time. Its funny to see that who is left, in many ways, are the ones that, like you, have weakness and faulths and some great qualities, but are trying....making effort to be a better person, or a person very much intune to themselves. What i mean, these friends, eventhou very different in character, care about others. They show you, as a friend that I do care about you in some way. One may not talk to them or see them offen...but you know in your heart this person values you

So that takes me to my original question of why is it people need to be acknowledge of there existence. I believe the answer is everyone to some degree needs to be valued, if not they will not exist for long. It goes back to Erickson and others belief that if a child is given physical need, such as food, shelter, etc but no attention, no love, no touch, they well not thrive. This has been proven many times. So we must not understimate the power of a smile, the power of a hug, the power of a touch and the power of listening. Try it, listening and aknowledging a person is not a ease as it seems, but when done in a matter of care and warm, it can be one the most powerful and life changing experience for some. With that the Prophet Muhammed SAW always had a smile on his face, and I hope that you and I can find something to smile about everyday of our lives ameen ;)