Hello stranger

[Applause]

i’m sure you all have heard about

little red riding hood we all know the

kid’s story

right the good little girl who ends up

wandering into the forest all by herself

only to be met by a friendly wolf who

then eats her

and her grandmother too

when we’re kids we’re bombarded with all

kinds of stories that teach us

many different things and there’s often

a common theme

a common central message be kind to

others

heroes come in all shapes and sizes it’s

best to be honest

you know the score most of them

although maybe not all of them are good

moral lessons

but one of the most popular yet most

misunderstood

is the moral of little red riding hood

which is

don’t talk to strangers

the sad thing is in many parts of the

world we are raised to believe that

strangers are dangerous

that we shouldn’t trust them and that

they can cause harm to us

kids have had that message jumped into

them since day one

and it is good advice if you’re a kid

right sure but not if that stops you

from talking to

every stranger you meet because if it

does

you’re missing out big time

some of our greatest lessons in life are

learned by listening to stories

by learning from them and by learning

from those who tell them

so today i’d like to share my story

in fact i will be sharing four short

stories

that illustrate why we need to hang the

brainwashing out to dry

why we should talk to strangers and how

doing so

can lead to some amazing and sometimes

unexpected benefits

in this modern crazy digital world where

so many people just seem to be out for

themselves

isn’t it more important than ever that

we reach out to other people

and no siri and alexa don’t count

they say that about a third of teenagers

with smartphones

are to send more than a hundred messages

a day

and many of them almost all of them are

more likely to text their friends than

they are to talk to them face to face

kids spend hours every day on their

screens

engaging with ideas and others but

they are not communicating or improving

their interpersonal skills

and yet is there a more important skill

than the ability

to connect with real people in the real

world

face to face

probably not so then the question arises

who is it safe to talk to and who is it

not

and it’s an important one for young

people in particular

especially because of the fact that

people like me are

often in contact with more people in a

single

week than our ancestors were in their

entire

lifetime and we all know

there are some pretty undesirable people

out there especially ones on the

internet

right i see some of you in agreement

because you all know the dangers

but have you ever stopped to ask

yourself what are the benefits

so today i’m going to be telling you

guys about how the chocolate boxes

fishing trips poisonous snakes and

cockpits help

me to understand why talking to what i

call

sensibly selected strangers is a good

thing

and why you and all kids out there

should do it too

so let’s start off with the amazing tale

of vivian and the chocolate box

it was summer of 2018 when i was on a

long-haul flight from vancouver to hong

kong

a few hours in i had an insane craving

for chocolate

but that’s okay i’m a kid so

i got up my seat and walked to the back

of the plane where the cabin crew hid

all their munchies as i was happily

chomping away on a chocolate bar i

decided to start a conversation with

vivian

who are thought to be a sensibly

selected stranger

given the fact that i was on a plane and

she was a flight attendant

we started off by talking about my

chocolate addiction then quickly moved

on to her job

i was curious to know more as my dad

works in the airline industry

and i actually wanted to be a flight

attendant when i was a little boy

but not anymore which is good

because she made it sound terrible

up until that point i thought the life

of an international jet setting flight

attendant

was glamorous zooming off the exotic

destinations

landing for a few days between flights

so you could explore the amazing cities

enrich yourself with the culture and

sample their

finest cuisine but

she explained that her and her

colleagues were always so jet-lagged

that they had no choice

but to stay in their airport hotel sleep

throughout most of the day

then finally wake up only to order room

service

by the time they had actually recovered

and wanted to go sightseeing

the only site they saw was the inside of

an airplane for the next scheduled

flight

that was the nail in the cabin crew

coffin for me

as i took my seat i saw vivian expertly

multitasking her way down the other

aisle

balancing noodles making coffees and

dealing with a hundred and one other

things

so i was surprised when a few moments

later

she appeared from behind the curtains of

business class

whispered to me with a wink the words

shh

don’t tell then handed me a box of

luxury chocolates

so what was the benefit of striking up a

conversation with vivian

apart from the box of luxury business

class chocolates

well it challenged my assumptions

and taught me a new perspective i’d

assume since i was a little boy

that the life of a flight attendant was

very glamorous

but then i heard it directly from the

horse’s mouth

sorry vivian it wasn’t at

all i learned that

judging by assumptions and appearances

is short-sighted

and unwise and that’s an important

lesson for young people

these days now on to story number two

surprisingly i was on another flight

this time from las vegas to vancouver

when i had to get out of my window seat

into the aisle so i could use the

washroom

you can see the pattern unfolding here

now right

as i stepped over my mom into the aisle

i realized that the flight attendants

had pulled out their trolleys

on both sides i was stuck

but in the aisle opposite there was an

empty seat

next to a nice looking couple so i asked

if i could sit down for a moment just so

i wouldn’t have to trample over my mom

again so

soon they smiled and i sat down

and of course i started talking to them

turns out believe it or not they only

lived

15 minutes away from me i was like

what seriously

anyways when the nice lady’s husband

realized where i was from

he pulled out a fishing magazine he told

me all the best and secret places to go

for fishing

some expert tips on bait and stuff like

that

i was only supposed to sit there for a

few moments

until the flight attendants had whisked

their trolleys away

but i ended up sitting there for three

hours

the entire remainder of the flight

sorry mom i never did make it to the

washroom

but i did learn something from these

sensibly selected strangers

two things actually one

it really is a small world you never

know who you’re sitting next to unless

you

ask and two

the blakemore roadrunner is a

particularly inexpensive bait and as a

favorite

for all around fishing well i thought

that was interesting

now on to tale number three

just last summer i was back in vegas and

of course

we had to check out the grand canyon

we were staying at this super cool ranch

right slap bang

in the middle of the canyon it had this

gigantic patio off to one side

so one day i decided to go explore it

as i approached the patio a bright

yellow sign caught my attention

and it said beware of rattlesnakes

yup rattlesnakes not the perfect holiday

guest

luckily i didn’t see any but what i did

see

was a lovely british couple who i

thought to be sensibly selected

strangers they were standing around

filming some sort of time lapse video so

naturally

me being me i decided to go talk to them

snakes i hate them i said

in which they nodded in agreement

then they started telling me all about

the snake in

england called the adder which has

diamonds across its back

so you know that it’s dangerous

i could tell they were brits by their

accents so naturally

i decided to ask them about british type

things

like the famous british chef gordon

ramsay

they were surprised i even knew him and

even more surprised

when i said that i loved his shows and

can do

an uncannily accurate impression of the

mad british cook

so i did i did my impression of gordon

shouting in a suitably english accent

while jumping up and down what are you

an idiot sandwich

they laughed at me and had said that i

got the mad bit about right

but not so much about the british bit

and so what was the point of that little

meeting

well it’s always great talking to people

from different cultures

and i had learned a few things about the

uk that i wouldn’t have known before

i also learned that a career in acting

as well as in flight attending is

not for me and finally

story number four

last year i was on a flight from las

vegas to vancouver

in fact i was actually boarding a flight

to vancouver when i got the opportunity

of a lifetime

normally i fly on larger aircraft so

i board from the middle of the plane but

this time we boarded from the front

and there was my opportunity

when i say i want to talk about the

benefits of talking to strangers

that also includes requests you’ll be

surprised how nice most people are

as long as your request is a nice one

so i asked the lovely flight attendant

whether i could have a quick look in the

cockpit and take some pictures

like boys in many parts of the world i’d

always wanted to do it

but never got the chance

she disappeared into the cabin and came

back a few moments later

saying sure the captain would like to

meet you

i couldn’t believe my luck i spent

the next 10 minutes chatting with the

captain all about

the technology in the plane and how he

thought about being a pilot

it was great and all because

i made a simple honest request to a

lovely kindhearted person

who then asked another lovely

kindhearted person

who then agreed to help

so the lesson from this conversations

with strangers is obvious

most people aren’t nice most people are

friendly and most people are willing to

help

and you usually can learn a thing or two

as well

so there are some of my stories and

thoughts about why talking to strangers

is a great thing to do

but we do have to be careful no matter

who we are

most people are kind thoughtful helpful

generous and have your best interests at

heart

but of course there are those who aren’t

and don’t there’s no way in knowing for

sure

who’s who which is why we need to use

our common sense when deciding

many parents always feel nervous about

their kids talking to strangers

and that’s fine that’s normal that’s

what parents

should feel but parents also need to

understand that by allowing their kids

to step out of their comfort zone in a

safe environment

take calculated and sensible risk and

talk to people

they don’t know they can experience some

amazing and

unexpected benefits and learn some

important

life lessons everyone you encounter

knows something that you don’t when you

engage

in conversation keep your mind open and

be prepared

to learn and be amazed

and i hope that is what i have

demonstrated today

when you talk to strangers you are

making meaningful interruptions

into their daily lives and yours

you’re making unexpected connections

if you don’t talk to strangers you’re

missing out on

all of that talking to

sensibly selected strangers has given me

the confidence and courage

to stand here in front of all you

strangers

today and share my stories

and i hope that in the future you will

all have stories of your own

to share about how talking to strangers

changed your life

thank you

you