This I Believe Response

I read the This I Believe article called “Do Talk to Strangers” by Sabrina Dubik. In the essay she says that she thinks that talking to strangers is a good thing. This revelation came to her when she was working as a waitress her sophomore year in college. She noticed that an older gentleman named Don would come in to the restaurant a lot and always sat in her section. The two began to talk often and not just small talk. They became friends. She even visited him when he was in the hospital after an open heart surgery.

I thought this article was really cute and also sad. She mentioned in the essay that Don and his wife had a tradition of going to dinner and to see a movie together every Saturday. When his wife died he continued the tradition on his own which is so sad. But it is cute that he became friends with someone. Sabrina said that meeting Don was life changing. It changed her view on talking to strangers. She mentions in the essay that she had more fun at her waitressing job when engaging in friendly conversations with her customers.

Sabrina’s essay was very personal, but I also think that it is very relatable. What person wasn’t taught as a kid not to talk to strangers? But I think Sabrina’s revelation that talking to strangers is one we should all have. Every person we have ever met started off as a stranger. How would we have gotten to know our friends if one of us hadn’t begun talking to the other? How would we ever fall in love if we never get to know our potential loves? Without talking to strangers, we would be very lonely in our lives. Our lives would never move forward.

As for the essay itself, I think it was well written. She doesn’t really create many visuals but I think she makes up for it with how relative it is. Everyone can relate to her original view on not talking to strangers. It is instinctive to us all. We don’t purposely not talk to others, we just don’t. It’s considered weird to just strike up a conversation with those we have never met. It’s out of our comfort zone. But everyone needs to step out of their comfort zone to make new relationships.