Lesson Four: Have Faith. Talk to Strangers

This is not a plea to find faith in God, but in mankind. This lesson should also not be heeded by small children, the elderly, or the extremely gullible.

Let's start on a very basic level. We seem to fear each other these days. We carry and project dozens of assumptions and judgments on one another everyday on an unconscious level. Why is it so outlandish, so strange, and so unorthodox to talk to people these days?

This article is being written on a smartphone, the poster-child, and scapegoat for the consequences of today's technologically driven youth. On many levels, it is understandable why a young woman today would want to power-walk to work with headphones and sunglasses. Getting hit on at seven in the morning is unpleasant. However, the disconnect seems rash, if not excessive. God forbid this has actually happened, but in "worst-case-scenario-world", those headphones may have prevented little miss pretty from hearing someone call out, "LOOK OUT FOR THAT HALF-MONGOLIAN, HALF-ROMULAN RAPIST RIGHT BEHIND YOU!"

On another level, technology helps us deal with the stresses of modern life. There exists today, a small demographic of individuals who, had it not been for the revolutionary smart-phone game "Angry Birds," would have slipped into a deep depression and killed themselves. Humanity is inspiring in that way: a small flick of a finger across a digital matrix can simulate bird-flying freedom and destructive power over a pig-run, power-structure; creating the illusion that one is in control over the corporate (piggy) institutions they subject themselves to.

That being said, those individuals may have also found similar comfort in other human beings, perhaps their human resources agent, a therapist, or a friend.

The point being (and a commonly expressed point it is): We are disconnected from one another. This is unfortunate, and there is another way. A way that came so naturally and necessarily to our grandparents who didn't have Amazon and Google Maps.

When we go out for walks, even in urban areas, how often are we confronted with a bloody street-fight, or a mugging? Yes, the San Francisco Bay Area is one of the friendliest places in the world, so there may be some operational bias, but we are not a far removed utopia by any merit. In the first post, a figure was quoted in regards to assaults taking place in the United States: 1.8 million in 2012. That may seem like a lot, and we could probably do better, but keep in mind that this is a nation of about three hundred million people. In fact, the portion of the population who actually committed an assault (assuming that each assault was carried out by a separate individual) comes to about half of one percentage point. While this is a crude and unrefined means of calculating human decency, what this indicates is that, for the most part, humanity is comprised of decent people.

Yes, we should be weary of that slim minority of harmers, but do not let that one rotten apple in two hundred be reason for you to never say, "Hi, I like your tie," or "You made me one helluva sandwich! Thank you!"

Even if you do draw the short straw when dishing out compliments to strangers, even if it is the deranged, angry person with a long history of violence; odds are, they are not going to make you their next victim because you complimented them on their attire, or pointed out how nice of a day it was. What will provoke them is if we treat them like dirty, disgusting, inhuman criminals. They will fill the role society prescribes them. When was the last time you read in the news, "Woman killed by homeless man after giving change?" It doesn't happen.

We should talk to one another more. The great thing about talking to strangers is that because you are never going to see them again, you can tell them the God's honest truth, without worrying about, "Well what if she tells Tammy, who's roommates with Alex, who has tea every week with Alan who might tell Phil?"

Strangers, being objective observers into our lives, can offer the best advice. They have no motives, unless they are that one percent of creeps, but in all honesty, it's fairly easy to read when that is the case. You will know if someone is trying to take a run at you. You just have to have faith in your own instincts.

When we speak to each other, as passing travelers on the same bizarre ride of life, focus on the things in life that move us forward. Ask about passions. Try to discern what things or ideas the stranger on the train believes can make the world better. Talk about the problems presented in the day's paper, and the little things we can do to ease the pain and promote progress.

If you have that discussion with that person, they will go home to their loved ones and in talking about the nuances of their day, you, and the discussion you had will naturally arise and the notions of goodness and passion relapses and propagates.

And tell jokes.

Two snowman are standing in a field. After a long silence, one snowman says, "Yeah, no, I smell carrots too..."