I want to know more strangers.

I like to initiate conversations. Dialogues. With total strangers. Maybe the person sitting next to me on the plane. Or on a park bench. Anywhere. I wasn’t always that way. But I decided that’s the way to live. I walk down the streets in Sardinia. And I feel a bit hampered. Because I don’t speak Italian. And therefore, it’s difficult talking to total strangers. They don’t even look at me. Don’t make eye contact. That seems to be the way here in Sardinia. I think it’s different in the USA. Maybe because I don’t let strangers get away with ignoring me. I make contact. With the eyes. With a physical gesture. Maybe with a single word, such as ‘Hi!’ My true love thinks strangers are entitled to privacy. And that they should be left alone. That goes against my grain. I’d rather give them the opportunity of feeling human contact. That I’d like to know something about ‘em. Not only because I’m curious. But because I care. I want there to be fewer strangers around me. –Jim Broede