When we were kids they
used to warn us from talking to strangers as if they will eat us
Instead they should
have taught us the guidelines to talking to strangers, to be nice and in the
same time cautious
This made some of us
closed and introvert and do not seek contact with any kind of human contact as
if the stranger would eat us alive
This extended in some
cases towards new relations, new opportunities in life coming from stranger,
new experiences in whatever field that may be related to strangers !!!
Then after a while you
find out that the experience of talking to a stranger is completely a free
experience without pre-assumptions , judgment or stereotyping specially if from
different culture or nationality
This stranger may be a
person you meet for the first time and occasionally for the last time , in a
row , in a plane, a train, in clinic, in restaurant ….. everywhere
This experience is a
nice one specially that you do not have to hide anything , to express reasons
behind your thoughts , your way of thinking as simply you do not mind if he /
she misunderstood you or even misjudge you
It is pure human to
human communication
Once I met an old man
in the plan, he was an Egyptian leaving in Amsterdam for the past 40 years and
for no reason started telling me his life time story and how he moved there and
how he managed his life and how he did not even know their language in the
beginning . The conversation started
with what is your destination and we talked for about 3 hours !!!
Another one in the
train as I was asking for the next train stop and my stop and as I do not speak
German language I started searching for anybody who can speak English and there
he is , he helped in the translation and we started talking . The amazing thing
about that is at the end I found that he is Marrakesh and he found that I am
Egyptian then we switched to Arabic , the end he was going to the same stop and
after that the same place so he was my escort to the place I was going to !!!
You may be introduced
to this stranger in the line of elections while waiting for hours until your
turn comes and , at that time the lady in front of me was defending a nominee I
did not like but she was too open minded to talk and discuss the pros and cons
of each nominee , the nice thing about that lady was when one girl crossed the
line and wanted to go before all of us and me as usual tried to correct her and
she started insulting me , suddenly I found the lady defending my point of view
and calling for the army officer to take her out then we restarted our
political debate she was amazingly nice person
But it is not usually a pleasant experience as
in another time I found myself next to a lady with 5 or 6 kids who does not
know even English and I was her translator to the hostess at some point I pretended
to fall asleep to stop the whole “women ra3’y “ as she talked nonstop and
started complaining about the kids and their problems
Overall I like talking to strangers as you just explore new area, new
cultures, and who knows you may make friends too and find them on facebook !!!
If you do not like the idea, just make it a smile to a stranger you see
in the street because simply you may not se him/ her again but for sure you may
change your or their day by that smile
