Day 335: Long Lost Tribe

I had a very interesting conversation the other night - about strangers. 

 

More specifically, how interactions with strangers are different here, in the United States (and perhaps most western cultures), from elsewhere in the world. 

 

My friend told me that they had never struck up a conversation with a random stranger whom they'd never seen or met before. 

[jaw drop]

I thought this was weird. 

I do it all the time! 

Well, not all the time. But frequently enough to think of it as normal. 

 

My friend mentioned, in India - where they're from, that people don't smile or talk to strangers. 

They might not even make eye contact. 

I was shocked.

I make eye contact with people I don't know all the time!

[Let me also clarify that, given the difference in population density in India, one would likely be talking to a lot of people they do know on a daily basis. They aren't just straight up snubbing people. At least most people aren't . . . probably.]

This topic got me thinking about what I've been reading in the book, Conversations With God (Book 3). Specifically, that humans were created as tribal creatures. 

 

Now, this isn't a new or novel idea to me, but the understanding (that dawned on me mid-conversation) of how this translates to life now, was.

The way in which we live in the "modern world" doesn't really sustain, protect, or nurture us in the ways that tribal life would. So, in thinking about the Western interaction with strangers - or at least my interaction with strangers - something started to click for me. 

 

It makes a ton of sense that in a culture where I do not have a strong sense of community I would subconsciously seek it out from other humans around me. Albeit, humans that I sense are safe, approachable and friendly, but strangers nonetheless.

Think about it:

Dating Apps = Strangers

Meet Ups = Strangers

Going to the gym = Strangers 

[insert your example here = I bet it will connect to Strangers]

Wow! 

 

Would you look at that? Biology at work! 

Trying to meet the inherit and invisible needs that we have for survival, but also to thrive and be - whether conscious or unconscious.

So, now I'm curious:
How often do you talk, smile, or make eye contact with others?
And what are your thoughts around it?