Good Monday Readers and Writers! It was my great pleasure during the past week to have not one, but two, incredible conversations. The first one with someone I recently met and really don't know, and the second one with a total stranger, whom I hope very much will become my friend. People talk a lot. Much of it is vacant words filling vacant spaces. Truly meaningful conversations are, at least in my experience, rare. Please let me know if you feel this is so too.
The first conversation was with a fellow writer, a young man about half my age. We began talking about common ground - our writing processes. That then wandered into research, information control and delivery, modern journalism styles and ethics, and science. What made this conversation so great was, in fact, the differences between us - age, gender, background, interests. I came out of that conversation feeling exhilerated.
The second conversation was with the merchant at a local dollar store. Something about her smile and her evident genuine, sincere, desire to provide attentive service, made me want to know more about her. I learned that she is from Afghanistan. She talked to me about what it was like for her and her family to learn English when they came here. Learning the language also invlolved learning what is and isn't appropriate to say or ask in our Canadian culture. And, you know what? Culturally, we really are so different. But, her and I are women of about the same age, with families and children. We want the same things - health, safety, success and happiness, for those we love. I came out of that conversation feeling enlightened.
The key to having these great encounters, I think, is to slow down enough to be open to letting them happen.
So, peace, love, joy, and time... Diana