Conversations and Connection Points

© Emily J. Bray 2012.

One of my favorite things in all the world is hearing about another person's story, especially those of complete strangers. I like the conversations that evolve when I'm on an airplane, strapped in a seat next to a young Lebanese business man en route to visit his family or the American mother of a son whose just been through a divorce, or the conversations the come up when I find myself following a friend to a function in a place I've never been and I meet older ladies on mission to better their community. Or conversations like the one I had just a couple evenings ago with a middle age East African college student I met while trying to take a picture of a flock of geese with my cell phone camera. He was doing the same thing, and instead of calling out typical greetings and continuing on our way, we ended up engaging in conversation -- a conversation that lasted over an hour.

I learned that his name means "hero", that he is the third youngest of 18 children, that his father operates a large coffee plantation in East Africa -- a plantation that sells coffee to famous places such as Starbucks, Tim Hortons, and Wendys -- and that he is very much in love with a woman back home who is working hard to be accepted into the same college as him so they can be several thousand miles closer to one another than they are now.

After this latest encounter, I found myself thinking about why it is that I find hearing about another person's story such a delight... and what struck me is that what I enjoy so much is finding that there are commonalities and points of connection between us all.

No matter where a person is from or what their position in life is we share many of the same aspirations, desires, and struggles. We may have different beliefs and attitudes that govern and drive us, but still, we have common wirings, like the desire to love and be loved, the struggle to gain ground in a world that often seems to push against us, and the aspiration to be involved in something of purpose -- common wirings that well, have a beautiful way of connecting and teaching us in ways that transcend the lesser things so often stressed as important.