For me, one of the joys of life is connecting with strangers. I say good morning or hello to nearly everyone I pass. And I pass a lot of people with all my walks and hikes and errands and my job.
Yesterday, as I finished my walk by the river and snapped a couple more pictures of the snow-dusted scene, I turned to cross the street toward my van and I saw a man doing push-ups on the sidewalk. As I passed him, he jumped up and began lifting his backpack with his hands like it was a barbell. I cheerfully declared, “No need for gyms!” He made an agreeable sound and I added, “Fresh air is better!” He said something else, but as I was across the street by then, I didn’t quite understand, but it was friendly. I thought about how easy it can be to have a pleasant exchange like this with a complete stranger, and who knows if we share anything else in common. If he were super conservative with disrespectful tendencies, I would not like him, but in that moment we connected.
There’s a woman who is often supervising the self-checkout at Wegmans who always says hi and asks me how I’m doing. We’ve never chatted more than a minute, but it’s nice being recognized and kind of have a friend at a place I shop.
Interactions in real life are the best of course, but we live in a world now that allows us to make connections with people we will probably never meet in person. The connection is still real though. It’s validating. It can be educational and it can be entertaining. Creaky and I are the same age and have a similar humble nature. I identify with Clark’s fascination with science and Ezra’s thoughtful approach to politics and current events. I laugh with Chris joking about having a book addiction and just like him I read all I can about topics of interest.
Forum friends are in the middle. Not as tangible as the strangers we run into in the real world, but we can make personal connections. I won’t meet most of them, but I have met a few.
I think science has proven that we are social creatures and that our mental health is better when we have social connections. Even brief friendly interactions with strangers are good for us. I know I feel good whenever I have a spontaneous friendly conversation with someone I’d never met before.
https://the-lilypad.com/store/COLLAB-LSH-World.html
