UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • June 2016 • 25


Not T e Walk of a Stranger By Hank Mattimore ~ hmattimore@yahoo.com


Sonoma County, CA. ~ I was taking a walk to the local market the other day when I crossed paths with a


middle


woman carrying groceries


aged back


from the store. I did not know her but, people person that


I


am, I wished her a cheery


good


morning. She never looked up and passed me by neither answer- ing my greet- ing nor, in any way, acknowledging that she and I were on the same planet together, not to mention the same neighborhood. Apparent- ly, in her eyes I was a stranger, someone to be feared or at least not trusted. In this particular case, the woman might have been deaf or her mind was else- where but I have had


similar periences ex- before


and, in talking to friends, they too have been given the silent treatment by perfect strang- ers. What’s going on? Have we be-


contaminant. We are becom- ing a “no touch, don’t talk to strangers society.”


Author Ana Maria Pineda suggests, that our traditional openness to people and new ideas is being smoth- ered by fear of the stranger. Insulated and isolated by our self construct- ed silos we are building a fence around our-


“Just as the


human need for hospitality is a constant, so, it


stranger” Ana Maria Pineda


come so fearful of other people that we are afraid to say hello? Is it ironic or what that in a culture eager to share our inti- mate secrets on facebook and other social media outlets, we are becoming less and less willing to talk to one another directly? Good grief, we are even afraid to shake hands with one another without subjecting ourselves to some kind of anti-


selves keeping the immigrants, people of color and others who are perceived as somehow dif- ferent than ourselves at bay. C’mon folks, our world, as you may have observed, is far from perfect but most people are not ogres ready to pounce on others. Hon- est. Your neigh- bor is not your enemy


but a


seems, is human fear of the


friend who wants to live in the of


same peace


kind and


harmony you want for your- self. People who speak a different language or have


a different color skin are not aliens from space but fellow human. beings. Nah! We don’t need to have love-ins on every block but it might help to recall to mind one of Maya Angelou’s sig- nature quotes, “ We are more alike than unalike.” Not a bad thing to keep in mind next time some “stranger” wishes you good morning.


“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as


the most beautiful.” Sigmund Freud


JOKES & Humor # 7


A week after John bought a bull, he complained to his friend, “All that bull does is eat grass. Won’t even look at a cow.” “Take him to the vet,” his friend suggested.


The next week, John is much happier. “The vet gave him some pills, and the bull serviced all of my cows!” he told his pal. “Then he broke through the fence and bred with all my neighbor’s cows! He’s like a machine!” “What kind of pills were they?” asked the friend.


“I don’t know, but they’ve got a peppermint taste.”


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UPBEAT TIMES, INC. • June 2016 • 25


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