Talk To Strangers
Pause and make time for a chat
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“Can you drop this postcard off for me, please?” said my brother.
“Sure.”
I walked down to the local postbox and slipped the postcard in.
As I turned to walk away, a man with long white and grey hair, a skinny build, looking dishevelled with a black carrier bag stopped me and said, “Do you have any change?”
I said, “No.”
Then he asked, “Can I use your phone to call my friend, please? I need to let him know about the Nutella spread I’ve got and pick up some money.”
We were standing in the middle of the road, so I said, “Let’s shift over to the pavement for a second.”
“Before we continue”, I said, “How are you? How’s your day going? Just take a moment and have a little chat with me.”
He said it was going well.
I didn’t want him to use my phone—I didn’t feel comfortable with a random person having my number. So I said it was a work phone and I couldn’t make external calls.
But I added, “I’ll buy you some food if you’d like.”
“That’d be great thank you so much” he said.
We walked to the shop together in silence.
He picked up some food and a couple of energy drinks.
I paid, and we stepped back out onto the street.
As we walked, I asked, “Where did you grow up?”
“Social housing, just nearby,” he said. “Had to go to rehab a few times.”
“How did you end up in rehab?”
“Did drugs. Anything I could get my hands on by the time I was 14.”
“What happened at 14? What pain did you experience?”
“My grandma died.”
“Were you close to her?”
“Oh yeah.”
“So it really affected you then?”
“Big time.”
“Sounds like you were closer to her than both your parents.”
“Definitely.”
“You really missed being with her.”
“I don’t like thinking about death.”
“What’s your name?”
“Steve.”
“I’m V.”
“It was good to talk with you Steve. Listen, all I ask from you, is that you pass on a good deed to someone else. Doesn’t have to be money-related.”
“Thank you, V,” he said with a big smile. “I will.”
“I’ll see you around!” I said as I walked off.
I don’t know if he’s clean. Or if he’ll sell the food to fund something else.
But it felt important to pause—to stop and talk to a man who probably gets passed up on the street every single day.
Life can take us down some dark paths without us even realising. One moment you’re fine, the next you’ve strayed into the shadowy corners of yourself and ended up somewhere you never imagined being. No one plans for that. No one envisions that kind of life.
But life just kind of happens. We’re not really taught how to handle it. So we make the choices we think are best in the moment—often just to dull the pain.
Next time you get the opportunity to talk to someone you haven’t talked to before, take a moment to connect because you have no idea what battles others are facing.
With love,
V
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