Dear Stranger, My Friend

June 30th, 2007

About a month ago, coming from a last-minute YS adventure to see my best friend, I had an incredible conversation with a physician who was flying home from a visit with his daughter. We didn’t speak until the last 15 minutes of the flight because we both slept nearly the entire time (apparently we were worn out from our visits in Denver). When we heard from the pilot that the flight was over 15 minutes behind schedule and that many connections would most likely be missed, my seat mate was everything but calm. To try to increase his chances of making his connection, he struck a conversation with me hoping that I would be kind to his situation.

What started as a soft bribe turned into an experience that had me wishing we spent less time sleeping and more time learning about one another’s lives. I learned about his travels and adventures, and he learned about YS and my goals. In all of 10 minutes, I started and finished a conversation that rivals some multi-hour conversations I have had in the past.

Ultimately, I remained in my cabin seat 7-B and allowed him and other hopefuls to take their run at the gates, but unfortunately, I had no time to exchange information with him. The result of that interaction birthed this project, Dear Stranger.

So what exactly is Dear Stranger??

Have you ever met someone on an unexpected day and wished there was a way to engage them? Perhaps you had no method of saving their contact information but you desperately wanted to continue the conversation. Or maybe you’ve discovered a note in a book or even a magazine article and you wanted to know who the mystery person was who wrote the note, or what they were thinking about that led to their forgotten note?

Dear Stranger is a medium to interact with those occurrences. A ‘Dear Stranger’ is a way to communicate with someone you never really got the opportunity to meet and continue the conversation with someone else. For example, one might stumble upon a Dear Stranger note from someone on our team:

In an insightful and enjoyable book rented from a local library
In a bus station waiting area or a movie theater seat
Posted in the location where a conversation with a stranger was abruptly halted

The reader of our snippet of wisdom might want to pass it on to others or simply acknowledge they received the note. When opportunity presents itself, we will publish a copy of our Dear Stranger note on our site and leave instructions for the ’strangers’ to comment on the note in hopes of ultimately, becoming acquainted.

Hopefully our Dear Strangers will become Dear Friends!