Unwritten Pages

I’ve been thinking about stories lately. I sat in my university’s plaza and just watched people walk by.  Yes, I people watched but I wasn’t awkwardly creeping on them or necessarily judging them, just making observations as they pass. 

Football jersey, maybe he’s a sports fan.  Snowboarding jacket, winter sports lover. Cute clothes, sense of style. But those premature observations and initial hypothesizes about someone didn’t really matter. It didn’t tell a story.  

I always ask people, “what’s your story?” and most of the time I receive a look that is somewhere between “are you crazy?” and “what does that mean?”  But I’m completely serious.  Every person has a past, present and future.  In this unwritten case, it’s a beginning, middle and an end. 

All of our stories are intertwined.  The phrase “it’s a small world” comes in handy here.  There have been several times that I have walked into a room of people and found out that we are connected through this intricate network, always more than we think.  It’s so fantastic.

So what do I know of these strangers walking past me, not even acknowledging my existence?  Absolutely nothing.  Maybe through this web of a world I do know them.  Through a friend, through a club, activity, job, the list goes on and on.

I won’t judge on when they walk by and I won’t make predetermined statements about who someone truly is without knowing them first.  But I always wonder.

So, what’s your story? I’ll listen.

Stay excellent,

Eva