The
phrase "Don't talk to strangers" isn't useful. For who
do you consider a stranger? Everyone that you ever knew in your
life was once a stranger to you, your parents included. And if you
make it a point not to talk to strangers, you'd probably never know
anyone. Visiting a foreign country would be impossible since everyone
would be a stranger. Perhaps what is meant is not to talk to shifty
looking strangers who bid you to follow them into deserted alleys.
But
whether the stranger looks like someone straight out of a police
line-up or on the way to becoming a saint, there's good reason to
be found in talking to strangers. It needn't be an hour-long discourse
on everything that's ever happened in your life. Conversation can
be something as simple as asking the person sitting next to you
on the bus where he's going, or showing concern to someone on the
street who needs it.
Advocating
this sort of behaviour might strike one as being thoroughly impractical.
It's not feasible to strike up a conversation with every person
that one bumps into on the bus, especially when it's rush hour and
everyone is in such a harried state of mind. But it just seems strange
to me that people can sit beside each other for an hour of their
lives and not bother to exchange a single word. Perhaps this is
the result of having to live in a city, within such close proximity
to each other. Everyday we are bombarded by a barrage of media information
that causes people to shut out the rest of the world and pretend
that everyone else on the bus doesn't exist.
Now
ask yourself truthfully - when was the last time you talked to a
stranger?
If
you had to think very long for an answer, perhaps it's time you
start reassessing how you perceive the world around you. It's easy
to talk to friends and people you already know quite well because
a certain level of comfort has already been reached. Going out of
this comfort zone to talk to a stranger might be difficult.
But
it's only when you do so that you can begin to see the world from
a different point of view. To know that one's perception of the
world at large is not the only one and certainly not the best one
can be a humbling experience. And to this end I proffer another
piece of advice that's been bandied around for some time now - do
something everyday that scares you.
Talking
to strangers can be an interesting experience. Once, I met a lady
in Holland Village who was a very kind person. I told her that she
was the nicest person that I had met that day, and since then my
outlook towards meeting people has improved.
At
best, a stranger can change your life. And at worse, that person
will remain a stranger. You might even find out that both of you
two live in the same block. But whatever the outcome, at least you'll
know that you've explored that possibility.
By:
Jared Tham. Published: The Nanyang Chronicle, October 2000.
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