Talking to Strangers: Difficult or Easy?

I am not sure why but my talking to strangers lately has gotten more difficult. Maybe cause I am older. I have the same curiosity, but others are of course reluctant to focus on anything but their world.

            I just spoke to a group of young people twenty to twenty- two whom I greatly admired.  I felt joy, talking and listening to them. But I felt their resistance. It is a form of young people’s lack of interest in history.

            They were bright, good looking, observant people. One girl struck me with her perceptive comments. She is a political science major, a senior. Two of the others were going to medical school. The others majored in political science or economics. They will become doctors, lawyers, good ones I bet.

            Three of them had heard of Aldous Huxley and one had written a book report on Brave New World, but he hadn’t read the book.

            When I asked them about their most important values, they each listed family first. Second, they said, was doing something for their country.

            Although they looked Italian to me and spoke English perfectly, they were second generation Afkan.

            These youths should be shown on TV.

            One girl said the difference in the disadvantaged of the world and them was only poverty. With financial opportunity, people are pretty much alike, she said.

            Another girl said she did not mind wearing a Berka if she could go to Afghanistan to visit.

            As I left them, they were eating and moving on.

            I did not touch them at all so far as I could see. But they touched me. They gave me things to think about. I worry a bit, disrupting their picnic, but I will tell others about how impressive they were.

You can explore more of James White's world in his novels. I Am Everyone I Meet: Random Encounters on the Streets of Los Angeles is available this summer for only 99 cents on Kindle right HERE!