A young man from Korea sat down next to a young African-American woman, and she began to strike up a conversation with him. The discussion ranged from what he's doing in the city (studying English) to where she's from (South Carolina, prompting an east coast geography lesson) to where he's traveled (Rome, Italy and London, England, among other European destinations) to how to pronounce their respective names (she's Veda, pronounced vee-da; he's Dae-Woong, but most of his American friends call him Daniel because they can't pronounce his name properly).
It was a pleasant, happy thing to hear, these two very different golks getting to know one another; and I was struck by how rare such a meeting is, even in the city. To have two people from such different backgrounds and ethnicities so sincerely interested in learning more about the stranger beside them on the bus ... I don't know, it just really warmed me. I wish that kind of exchange happened more often. I'd like to get better at reaching across boundaries like that.
No comments:
Post a Comment