You Don’t Know Me?

There is, I believe, a ‘spark’ that matches people together. A look, a smile or a flick of the hair, that magic that attracts two people together.

But they are both strangers.

Sometimes it is a growing friendship over similar taste and experiences and sometimes it is a courtship.

But they start out as strangers.

Some get attracted to powerful people to further their career and some get attracted to beautiful people until the vision fades. Some get attracted to skilled people who can teach and some get attracted to eccentric people for what they think.

But they are still strangers.

For everyone we meet for the first time is a ‘stranger’. There is no resume for friendships. Friends from one time may not be friends later or the friendship with additional knowledge may grow. Friends from school may move away and new strangers met to replace them.

Yet they are still strangers.

Other than family members (and there are probably exceptions here too) is anyone but strangers. Workers in an office or a factory share a few hours with each other and maybe have a communal meal, but they are still strangers. Significant others, though you may think you know everything about them because you share a bed, have those times when you are unaware of who they are.

For individuals are strangers to each other until we are accepted.

I met a girl (I say girl even though it is politically incorrect because we were so different in age) and she expressed she wanted to be my companion. Three years later we were married for two and a half decades.

Upon meeting each other were we strangers?

Absolutely. There were only lives based on stories told with details deleted. We presented our history to each other, as the other wanted to hear it.  We paused if we didn’t get the anticipated reaction and took detours when we hit a pothole.

Were we still strangers?

Certainly. With more time together and more experiences shared and more intimate conversations on likes, wants, feelings, desires, frustrations and the rest of human emotions, we were more familiar but still somewhat strangers. Neither of us ever knew the first love, the best moment, the awakening because all we could hear were the filtered tales of a past before we were there.

Are we all strangers?

Maybe we are? How well can we know another person? How well can we know ourselves?