The Stranger I Met Today

Last week, I committed to meeting a stranger on the sidewalk.  I had received some great suggestions from The Stranger I Met Today readers and ultimately chose the sidewalk recommendation to inspire a stranger encounter, which ideally would have resulted in a lesson learned.  Over the past week, I was on sidewalks throughout the Mid-Atlantic region.  I walked along sidewalks in a few cities and even more smaller towns.  I strolled down sidewalks in New Jersey, Delaware, and Pennsylvania.  I let my size 10 feet hit the pavement during the day as well as the evening.  You know what?  I didn’t learn any lessons from any strangers by following cement paths.  However, I did learn an important lesson.  The ‘lesson learned’ from my sidewalk endeavor was that I can’t force it.  I have to just let the stranger encounters and lessons happen.  When I become too focused on orchestrating a particular stranger meetup, the magic disappears. 

Last week I met strangers, but they weren’t on sidewalks.  I met them everywhere.  When I met a woman at a restaurant that described how annoyed she gets when her adult son leaves his dirty coffee cup in the sink every single day, I looked over at my husband and made a mental note to stop doing that because he, like the waitress, hates it.  When I met a police officer after he pulled me over, it took an hour or so of reflection to recognize that my initial annoyance should have been directed at me rather than him because I was the one that broke a minor traffic rule, not him.  It was what he said before he gave me my warning – “it’s my job to keep you and everyone else safe” that helped me to learn my lesson.  When I met a cashier in TJ Maxx who described how shorthanded they were that day because half of her co-workers called out of work to go enjoy the beautiful weather, I told her that the weather was going to be beautiful the next day and that she should call out sick.  She looked me straight in the eyes and told me that she’d feel too guilty to pretend to be sick. I learned that there are people out there that do right thing, no matter what.  When I met an elderly man that insisted on holding the door for me (I had a large box in my arms) after two teenagers who walked through the door seconds before did not, I learned that a polite gesture is never guaranteed, but should always be appreciated. 

My list could go on and on.  I meet people every day.  If you remember, that’s where this blog started.  I realized last week that I can’t force it.  It just has to happen.  If I meet a stranger on the sidewalk this week, then I’ll write about it and post my experiences for you to read on Patch.  But, if I don’t meet him or her on the sidewalk, but rather meet my next stranger in a parking lot, in a funeral parlor, or a Mexican restaurant, I’ll write about that.