Ever since we were young we were told, "Never talk to strangers." Although this advice kept us safe for all of childhood (and even adulthood), there are some opportunities to do the opposite.

Today, I walked into a little store and the shop keeper asked what I was looking for. What began as a simple small talk spiraled into almost an hour of conversation. Somehow, we managed to discuss different cultures, race, gender issues, our travels throughout the world, our passions, love, and the importance of talking to new people.

For anyone walking past the shop, I'm sure we appeared to be old friends. Laughing and striking up a conversation out of thin air, I was amazed at how much I learned from our meeting. The owner told me he loved what he did for a living. When I asked if he genuinely liked people, he enthusiastically nodded his head. "I love talking to strangers because I believe you can learn something new from everybody. Everyone has a story."

Then he sarcastically joked, "You can even learn something from stupid people. If nothing else, I learn to feel better about myself." After that, we really were old friends.

As we exchanged goodbyes and I exited the shop, I was left with a sense of contentment. Never before did I truly value the act of talking to strangers. Before this moment, most of my exchanges were brief. But this one was drastically different.

I took the owner's words to heart about how everyone has a story. I realized that similar to me, everyone always seems to be too caught up in their world to notice others. The simple act of getting to know a complete stranger could make all of the difference in not only your world view, but the entire world view.

When I told the owner that I am studying journalism, he joked that I would end up writing an article about him. He said he could tell that I was curious about people. Sure enough, he was right.