As a society I think we don't do that often enough. Amazing what you can learn by 'listening'.
About 3 years ago I was visiting the father of one of my best friends. He suffered from Dementia. His family told me before I visited with him that he might not remember me... but he did. while visiting I stuck with tales about the past that we had shared... and in that way his memory was excellent. Getting to the point of this reply:
He told me a story about how one of the German prisoners at the camp I mentioned above escaped. He was found in a field owned by the guy I was visiting - very near my home. I had never heard that story before he told me about it.
Had I not visited him then, (today his dementia is very bad and he remembers almost nothing), I would have never known about that tale. - JamesJM