As I think about the saying “A stranger is just a friend you haven’t met yet” I think about all those sterotypical identifiers we attach to people that impact our decision on the value of a being or not. I think about the identifier POC (person of colour) and wonder how that even came about. Should I be offended by this? I am a white Canadian and I can’t help but feel that maybe white is a color too? Why do we identify people in this way. How can we ever move forward if we keep on signaling people out based on their melanin in their skin? Why can’t we simply say, “See that Dame over their with the flawless hair? Or look at that guy with that amazing smile”. Is it still necessary to use that phrase “Person of Colour.” Is this how anybody wants to be known. We are teaching our children that it is ok to not look inside each other to get to know that person for their character. Instead we teach these racist ideologies that are being passed down that we think right now is ok but the moral of it all is in 20 years we will be offended that we identified each other in such a way.

Every stranger we meet has the potential to impact our life in a substancial way, that is if we all them the opportunity to get close to us. Our Worlds used to be segregrated as we explored the dfferences between the cultures that we do not understand. It’s kind of the same mentality of having a child born with webbed toes or missing toes. Do you shun them away as an abomination of nature or do we love them anyways because they are a piece of us. Before you answer that question I know that infanticide exits in some cultures but what I am exploring is our own basic common sense. The common sense we had before we were trained to hate thy neighbour that showed a little bit of dissimilarities to us. We are born with the human instinct of survival and have long lived in packs or communities. You think that over time we would see that their is value when we all work together to achieve a common goal. For most of us that goal is to live comfortably surrounded by love and a family. We would wish for a shelter and full bellies and whatever it takes for each one of us to feel we lived our lives to the fullest. Imagine now that you are not one of the lucky ones that was born into a culture such as this. Some of us are born into filthy poor living conditions and will never know what it feels like to thrive. Yes they will never know what they are missing. They adapt and learn to live within the means accessible to them. You never hear them complain or go to war. You may think that they wouldn’t have the means to achieve such hate. Maybe you are right. They never imagined these lives of a great grandeur. Even when they had to bare witness to extreme genoicde and hate they still welcome those into their communities. It is the human thing to do.

Nobody wants to feel alone. Nobody. It is amazing to me that with a warm smile and a genuine heart how many people’s days you can actually change. I have long ago recognized the value of conversation. It is probably my biggest weakness. I love to chat and get to know the human inside the vessel. We are all just these beings born into these lives that we have zero control over.  That may be what I hate the most. The lives that some people are born into. You have the “Royal Families” making a mockery out of us. Gallavanting their riches around the World like there aren’t starving families in Africa. They don’t need to worry about the affect they have on the environment because they have enough money that they squeal away. Tell me why it is necessary for anybody to live in such luxury when each and every one of us desire to live comfortably. Keep your title if you wish but the true Monarch’s we should adore and admire are ones that want to make the wrongs of their ancestors right by giving back what they stole. Thank you for going to war and envading other countries. Thank you for stealing their priceless artificats that identify their heritage. Thank you for reminding us what selfish really looks like. You never had to know the lives of over half of the population that your family and your ancestors have destroyed. To me that seems like a true abuse of power. I don’t know about you but I would want to be remembered for making the World a better place instead of flaunting your wealth around.

To have gone completely out of context the best part of my day is the conversations I have with strangers. It makes me feel complete. To be able to connect with somebody in a way that makes their heart feel at peace for even a minute is a skill I am trying to perfect. Meeting people is my passion. Hearing their stories soothes my soul. The ability to be able to just listen to anybody in a time when most so desperately need. I have poured my soul out to a stranger at an airport. He poured out his. We connected on this surreal level that made us both feel not alone in that moment. It was only conversation and of course in the end the obligatory goodbye hug as both of our planes began to board. We didn’t exchange any information nor did we need to. We both served each other’s purpose and in that moment we healed those parts that we expected our friends and family to just know how to do. I knew that our paths would one day cross again so I didn’t have that feeling of letting something go. Just the opportunity to allow myself to blosssom and feel at peace with who I am.

Here, this is why it is necessary to connect with those on a spiritual level. When your time is done and it all fades to black you can only recognize those energies that you vibrated with on the same frequency. You may think that there is nothing in the end but there is no way for that to be true. Energy never dies it changes forms, and carbon is returned to the earth. We are all just energized pieces of carbon looking to find the next piece. We try to collect as many energies as possible in order to collect a giant super nova. That is why one is never gone. The imprint from that energy source has long left its mark even when its all said and done. I know strange eh? But it is something I am just kinding of toying with the idea of. When it came to my son I needed to find a way to communicate with him to find out what he needed and desired. Even when it came to how I interact with my animals I noticed that we were all reponding to these hidden cues that made it easier to communicate with each other. Now with this in mind it inspires me to go out in the World and try to infect it with kindness. I will always pay random strangers compliments to try and brighten their day. I will no longer have shame in being a hugger (unless boundaries will be crossed). To finally feel at peace and to truly be accepted with those that I vibrate with at the highest frequency. I never really knew what it felt like to believe in oneself until that time when I dared to truly be free. Now that I look back and reflect on what it means to be a stranger and what it means to be a friend I feel that they are now one and the same. You can feel strange in a room full of friends just as quickly as you can find friendship amongst the estranged. It is your perception of yourself that determines the way you interact with the World. You become what you aspire to be when you start living out your dreams.

I also think that is why I so easily fell in love with music. In time maybe I can enchant the living with my melodies. For now I lull myself and the memories I have of those that I have encountered. Both in this life and in previous and in the ones to come. To truly be able to explore your true limitless potential is a gift bestowed apon me by those who believe in me the most. We all deserve to have our stories told and our lives celebrated. That is slowly becoming my new lifes mission. I travel to find those unsung heroes trapped inside their own lives waiting for the reason for them to finally be set free. No longer do I look at myself in the mirror and feel shame for the actions that I might have embraced the day before. I live my  life with simple, honest, intergrity as I strive to be the woman that my son believes me to be and who strangers so desperately.