Have you ever had a random encounter or fleeting moment with a stranger that stuck with you?
I'm trying to shift through years of travel filled with waiting times in various airports, train stations, bus stations; all the usual places where strangers tend to congregate. Way back when; the strangers that I had encountered rarely remained strangers, there was something about being fellow travelers that created a sort of bond.
The strangers who remained strangers during my travels are the various "celebrities" that I walked past either going back to coach or at the gate; the national weather man on Good Morning America, the soap opera star who played a dual role of twins on All My Children, Aidan Quinn who is currently on the show Elementary, all these stars remained strangers mostly because I was too shy to strike up conversation; except with Aidan Quinn, I spoke to him because I was the only one in the smoking section of the plane and he sat next to me whenever he came back to steal a smoke he used my lighter, that goes to show you how long ago that was.
I have always liked the traveling culture, groups of random people tied together through various adversities or adventures, it's hard to remain strangers in those types of circumstances; at least I think so, I like the thought of having common ground, it makes the world seem much nicer.
laurieanichols 
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Thanks for the ping!
It is interesting that I never felt compelled to get to know any fellow travelers – I know great stories can be born out of a brief but uninhibited interaction but the mere recognition that this is just a momentary meeting made me lose any interest… Shortsighted perhaps.
My experience with traveling and connecting with people gave me opportunities to develop a few longterm penpal relationships but that isn’t for everbody. I just think that traveling is in and of itself exciting so if strangers don’t figure in it or if they do, the whole point is to have fun.
I agree and I think I am guilty of always asking myself why would they care? My husband and I used to have parties in our apartment when we will ask questions and people will talk about themselves and never ask us any questions. They will say afterwards how much fun they had in our house. We did too but then we stopped inviting…
Everyone has fun when they talk about themselves, unfortunately some don’t realize that the most fun comes when there is give and take and not just me, me, me. Finding those special guests can be challenging.
I moved from thinking about strangers to thinking about self-hatred. Why would anyone hate oneself? And yet this phenomenon leads people to negate the self and to turn to a newly created image that might not be authentic to self but will allow blend in (or melt into) a group or society. But of course this becomes much more significant when the overall climate changes. I asked my Muslim friend if this is the option Muslims choose. I was told No. Pan-Arabism rather than self-negation. My Israeli friend said, ask if this changed post-9/11 and I asked. No, my Muslim friend responded, quite to the contrary: the regional boundaries are decreasing. Indian or Pakistani Muslim does not really matter. Is the Sunni/Shia split still important? Yes, this will take time, he said. But neither will turn to self-negation.
Very interesting observations. 🙂