strangers

We should all be scared of strangers right? Strangers could be nasty people who want to do terrible things to us .. .. .. but not always. Just over a week ago my wife suffered from some kind of debilitating attack. We don't know what caused it but we do know the symptoms, half of her face is numb, the right hand side of her whole body is weak, speech is extremely difficult and was initially quite slurred, seem very much like those associated with strokes. She went to her GP the day after the episode and he referred her to the hospital who saw her the following morning. The consultants at the hospital are 99% certain that she has not suffered a stroke although they cannot tell at this stage what is causing this.*

On Sunday night, while I was waiting for her to compose a reply on MSN** I threw up this quick tweet.

The response was overwhelming. A bunch of strangers all expressed concern, offered advice, offered support, listened while I worried. People that I've not met, don't know, am unlikely to know, reached out across the internet and showed humanity in it's best light. None of the respondents had anything to gain from what they did, none of them had any personal interest in her plight and yet they still took the time to offer assistance. Even now, days later, many are still enquiring as to the state of her health and if there has been improvement***. Strangers .. .. .. dangerous people eh?

We need to have more faith and less fear of people. Years of successive governments, and large media organisations, telling us about threats and dangers in an attempt to control us has left us so suspicious of each other and each other's motives that we are often too afraid to engage in simple conversation. People have become increasingly isolated from each other and this has fuelled the mistrust that permeates our conciousness.

I can't think of a simple solution to completely reverse the descent into fear and paranoia. There are some pretty sick, twisted, sadistic people out there who would do us harm but they are so few and far between that they barely even constitute a minority. The vast majority of people are decent and good and we need to make an effort to emphasise that. Let's say a cheery hello and smile at the people we pass in the street. Let's stop and chat to the person in the queue for the train, the bus, the checkout of the supermarket. I know it isn't the whole answer but who knows? If enough of us do it .. .. .. ..





* My best guess is that it's stress induced. If you've been reading this blog for a while you might have an inkling as to why I think that.
** We were sat next to each other just using the service to replace vocal communication.
***There is some improvement in her speech but we're still waiting for the MRI appointment