Have you ever been stuck in a long conversation that you wish you could find a way out? You know you should entertain it for a second to be polite but would really prefer to be doing something else. I’ve come to find that these unwanted or sometimes awkward conversations that I frequently get cornered in may actually be quite valuable.
Recently, I remembered to do a small favor that my elderly neighbor asked me to do. One afternoon he cornered me in conversation, a much longer conversation that I originally would have liked. After jumping topics from college sports, to boat safety, to guessing his age, he asked me to search his name on Google. A strange request, but I finally did and am astonished at what I found. It turns out that this man who sits on his porch with his walker all day, a man who I have no more than greeted occasionally when I pass by, is an olympic gold medalist.
This instance is one of the many that have helped me gain respect for the seemingly mundane people I cross paths with. Not to say that we all may be living next to somebody famous, but by entertaining conversations like these, by simply taking the time to exchange a kind word with someone unlikely, you have the chance to see those around you in a much different light.
As I’ve started to take on more opportunities to talk to people like this, I’ve learned that I’m surrounded with really interesting people. The man I sit next in church was an FBI agent who married his general’s daughter, a woman I met at a graduation party has the real life “modern family”, a guy I work with was temporarily paralyzed in an ATV accident and spent a month in a coma. These stories are elicited usually by showing simple genuine interest in talking and listening.
As a college student who admittedly lives in a bubble, I am reminded that I’m surrounded by the entire human experience. It doesn’t take traveling miles to see what the world has to offer, sometimes it just takes traveling next door.
