Strangers

Hey stranger! I see you, I know you glanced at me. Beware, make sure your glance doesn't linger for long. It would spark uneasiness. Because that's what we have been taught since we were little. Strangers are strange, and attached more to danger than anything else, and hence to stay away to stay safe.

I look through a narrower, but wider lens now. The one that a parent wears, if you know what I mean. I want to say that some of you strangers are still well, danger. But you are few of your kind. The other kind of you, the nicer ones, still strangers, are nice. Even if one doesn't get to know you much, even if one can only relate with in one way, so that you're just a stranger, not dangerous, just a bit more familiar. Familiar enough for me to trust that you don't carry malign, and I can relate to you and you can relate to me, even if we have to try hard, really hard. That's the state of world and state of mind I want for my kids. Most of the world, most of the people are nice. I want that unverified inkling to stay, to grow, to become a belief.

If you give me a chance, if you look at me as not a stranger, I promise, I will too.