Letters From Strangers

Dear Stranger,

Hello. I don't really know how to start this (I've never done this before, you know). I'm already wondering about you; are you old, and wise? Will you read this and think, ah. I know the feeling. I've been there. I've done that. Or are you young, and naive, and will you say, oh my I don't know, I can't understand you, I don't relate? I think you'll understand. In my experience, we're all more alike than different. My problem is this: I'm not entirely sure who I am. Wait, let me specify: I know my name, I know my gender, and my family and my favorite color. I know my race, where I live, and how long I sleep at night. But what I don't know is this: I don't know who I like and who I don't like, I don't know what I want to be, or if I'm good enough to be it; I have only a vague idea of what I want to do, and rarely have the courage to pursue it; I don't know what real life is like, outside of my "perfect" suburban town, and I think that's why I don't know who I am; I don't know who I am in the context of the world. But maybe no one knows that. Or, maybe I'm just nothing, maybe my thoughts and questions and wonders are trite, trivial, shallow, commonplace. And that's why I'm writing to you, stranger! Nothing ever happens here, and especially not to me. So I wanted to hear what someone's life is like, someone who is probably completely and totally different than me, so tell me anything and everything, I'm curious. I want to know if people think like me, if I'm not as weird as I thought I was. I just want to hear your story. And your advice. But that's highly unlikely, so tell me whatever's on your mind. I'll listen.

Lots of [heart],

A Stranger