It turns out that your neighbor on the plane/bus/train (or the person sitting at the next table at the coffee shop) is a very, very chatty tourist. Do you try to switch seats, go for a non-committal brief small talk, or make this person your new best friend?

It depends on the person, of course. With positive minded people, there will always be something we could learn from him/her. New ideas often come from stranger outside our routine environment because people around the world have different culture, point of view, and perspecrive in life. It surprise me how differently people think about an accident, people with strong belief in God could see it as a God’s plan, liberal citizen could see it merely as an accident and develop a plan to avoid it in the future, while communist could see it as a conspiration.

Neither are wrong, it’s just a matter of point of view, really. And it always refreshen my way of thinking, listening to people’s opinion or reading a newspaper from different country. From the way people think, psychologist could learn about person past, how he grow up and molded into a person he is now. Moral for today, keep an open mind when dealing with others! You might just be the bad guy in other’s point of view.

dp