Crowd of Strangers

What do you do in a crowd of strangers?

It is an everyday occurrence. When you leave your sanctuary of family to wander into the world to get groceries or buy gas you are surrounded by strangers. When you go to a restaurant, everyone else in there is a stranger. When they turn off the lights at the movies everyone else is a stranger. When you go to a stage presentation or an outdoor festival, everyone else there is a stranger.

It maybe a crowded elevator or a line at the bank, they are all strangers. Public bathrooms are full of strangers. Hotels have strangers sleeping next to you. Churches are full of strangers.

When you join a team everyone else is a stranger. When you get a job everyone else is a stranger. When you fly on a plane or ride a train everyone else is a stranger.

How we interact with this sea of humanity shows our cultural civility and polite etiquette for others. Then, at time, things just get unruly and we have to decide to join in with the masses or not.

We can take along family or friends as a buffer to the multitude. We can only attend events where we are part of the flock. Yet we cannot interact with strangers.

A stranger gave us all the forms to make your largest purchases. A stranger pulls us over for running a stop sign? A stranger diagnoses your ailments. A stranger works on your car. A stranger boards your kids all day. A stranger takes you to the hospital. A stranger handles all your money at the bank.

So while we have a brief conversation standing in line together or high five at the sports bar, that person is a stranger. That person could be a preacher or a bank robber. That person might be a domestic abuser or a CEO. That person could be a junkie or an animal adoption advocate. That person might be the person who programmed your phone or the last of the Mohicans. That person may become your next wife or best friend or hack your account and steal all your money.