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Posted on 10/18/2025 5:57:46 AM PDT by Twotone
I was sitting in a Starbucks the other day, typing away on the laptop open in front of me, pausing to look out the window and watch the cars roll by every few minutes, when a young guy walked over and just started talking to me.
Him: “Do you mind if I talk to you a bit? Would you like to have a conversation?”
Me: “Um, sure. Have a seat. Are you working on a project or something? Writing something?”
Him: “No. I’m just trying to talk to more people. I used to be really socially awkward, so a few years ago I decided that I should just talk to people when I have a few extra minutes.”
Channeling Albert
I thought it was a fantastic idea and said as much; then I asked if he came up with it on his own. He said that he had.
I told him that back in the 1930s the psychologist Albert Ellis did a similar thing for a similar reason. Basically Ellis — then a very shy young man in his 20s — would go to the park and talk to every single woman he saw. All ages, shapes, and sizes. He reported that it helped him immensely, essentially curing him of his crippling social anxiety.
I brought up Ellis not to undercut the creativity of his idea but to underscore the fact that he was on to something very real. Great minds think alike, you know.
I asked him if he thought it had helped him, and he, like Ellis, confirmed that it certainly had. Stop me if you've heard this
He told me he was Catholic and was waiting for a Jehovah’s Witness who was meeting him for a debate. I didn’t ask him how exactly they set this debate or how they crossed paths, but I can only imagine that they were discussing theology online and decided to continue their argument IRL.
It really sounds like a good start to a joke, doesn’t it? A Catholic and a Jehovah’s Witness walk into a Starbucks for a theological debate.
I talked with him for about 15 minutes. He told me he was 18 and that he was in middle school during COVID, to which I responded, with my palm holding my forehead, “My God, you are so young and I am so old.” We talked a lot about his experiences speaking with people. How some were more open and others less so, and how he thought other people in his generation would benefit from doing something similar.
I told him that I think the Zoomers’ emotions were calibrated differently from their elders' due to technology and the social isolation it has brought along with it. He agreed.
Communication breakdown
He also shared a theory about how we perceive one another in our technological age. He explained that in his opinion we tend to project the most extreme views onto those with whom we disagree before we even interact, with the result that we adjust our own views to be more extreme. Everyone is constantly doing this, which is why communication gets worse and worse.
I found this compelling. I had never thought of it that way, and while I need to ponder it more to know if I really agree or not, I think there must be some truth to it. I also think, due to his age, he has a more personal insight into his generation’s sense of the world than I. He is a native to his strange world, while I am only a documentarian noting the ways of these peculiar people we call Zoomers.
Listen up
I like talking to people. Truthfully, I like doing the listening more than the talking. It might be because I’m a writer and always looking for inspiration, or maybe it’s because I’m perpetually curious about everyone and everything. Whatever it is, I like sitting there, just listening, taking in what they have to share, trying to figure them out. If you ask people about themselves, they will just talk and talk, and you can learn about all these other corners in all these other lives.
Our world can feel very internal these days with the internet and all the text-based interaction we suffer through. It’s easy to feel alone and estranged from everyone else. In our day and age, sitting and talking with someone you’ll probably never see again is oddly refreshing. It just feels good.
I really enjoyed my time talking with Zoomer Albert Ellis. I was fairly uninspired when he sat down, and our discussion was invigorating in a way that only human interaction can be. I learned something about the Zoomers and their social struggles as seen through his eyes. And it was heartening to see this young guy trying to better himself in the real world. Perhaps the kids — or at least some of them — are all right.
After a few minutes, a big black truck pulled up and a slender guy in his 40s with graying hair hopped out. The Zoomer across from me concluded that this must be his debate partner and said goodbye. He met him outside on the patio, where they sat at a black table, across from one another, for quite some time. I went back to my work, writing. Every few minutes I glanced out the window to see the a spirited theological debate, politely raging, IRL.
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Click here: to donate by Credit Card Or here: to donate by PayPal Or by mail to: Free Republic, LLC - PO Box 9771 - Fresno, CA 93794 Thank you very much and God bless you. |
Nice tale, I miss interesting people, but mostly I miss people who are interested, that young man is interested and is going to have a nice life and connect with a lot of people, and learn a lot.
I was very shy as a youngster. I would NEVER do what this young man did. But this is something that should certainly be encouraged. Schools (& parents) should be encouraging it.
Good story, thanks!
My response would have been get lost homo. Go troll a road side mens room
A lost art....conversing with strangers.
Thank you for posting.
There is nothing at all wrong with finding ways to increase human connections in our American society.
For decades, we have been trending towards individual compartmentation and isolation. And this has been fostered by the Left. COVID was a great example.
They want people to NOT interact. They want people NOT to travel. They want people to depend on the government for everything.
Our main problem is, we can talk to those people who have swallowed Leftism, say hello to them on the street, strike up conversations in airports and such. But we cannot talk to them and hope to find “middle ground”.
The things they have been led to believe in are fundamentally, and diametrically opposed to the things we believe in. The Left has been working hard to make our citizenry incompatible with living in a Constitutional Republic, and unable to do so.
I would like to see that change.
I’d be willing to bet that is is an artificial story.
"Tired of the devision? Please talk to us lefties".
Says the gaslighting mindflayers that have brought death, destruction, Marxism and humanism. Sure, I will talk. Can you handle the truth?
"I just wish it didn't have to be about who is right". Drones the supposed opposition conversationalist, paid voice actor.
Brought to you by the ad council.
Or:
Writers sell this stuff to those who buy this stuff. No sale, this time.
I’m midwestern so I always talk to strangers. Not indepth conversations. The only ones I’ve had, usually in grocery stores, seem to be with insecure people looking for instant social, not sexual, intimacy who want contact information.
But I’ve always enjoyed the momentary communication with strangers you find in the midwest and very occasionally outside. People smiling at one another just because you’re both alive. The sincere complement about a wonderful shade of blue hair or an unusual blouse or just the biggest smile on a sunny day.
You can do it in Los Angeles or Westchester County NY, but the response is often mixed with a trace of panic or suspicion before you see a surprised pleasure spread over their face. It’s fun to be a pre-boomer.
Thanks for this!
Good Saturday morning! 🙂
Yeah, I would have immediately check to see if I had my gat with me, then I would have told the kid to get lost.. I've become Callused and probably way too bitter in my old age when it comes to the "zoomers".
I trust them about as much as they trust me...
Mine would have been "what are you selling?". Most people who are talking to me cold like that are either selling insurance, a multilevel marketing scheme or religion.
When I’m on travel, I’ll talk to strangers on the plane or at hotel/airport bars. It’s not hard to find something in common with someone who is willing to talk.
One time, I met a young man who flew all over the US to fix pipelines. Part of his job was to install a specific type of flow meter that I happen to work on years before. It was a good conversation that would have never happened if stayed in my shell.
I as well. I found that forced public speaking, starting in school, doing presentations, helped a lot. I even took a public speaking class in college. The teacher gave us simple rules about preparation, and said basically - its ALL just regular practice and becoming comfortable with speaking - overcoming one's fear through using a simple format, preparation and constant practice / repetition.
I've since spoken at industry conferences and such, in front of hundreds of people. I don't know if I could do what someone like Charlie Kirk did, ie) ad hoc, extemporaneous debate in front of thousands, but I suppose with some practice, even that is possible.
Here are titles of some of Root's articles:
"Michigan's Best Fish and Chips Is in the Middle of Nowhere""Would You Live in a Trailer Park Right on Lake Michigan?"
"My grandpa's old desk"
And that stuff above about "content creators," yeah. Him too.
O.W. Root - O. W. Root's channel
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