Reflections on Ignorance-Kwik Trip and Socialization

     This past week I was at Kwik Trip with my friend Ryan. Our weekly Kwik Trip runs, which sometimes happen more than weekly, are a beloved tradition of ours. We get pizza, chicken sandwiches, Arnold Palmer and then take to the counter for conversation. We were doing what we do best: shooting the breeze.  A young woman walked past us and made a very random, albeit funny, remark to us. She said something along the lines of "I love the Kwik Trip date." That was all she said, and that is likely to be the only conversation I will have with that young woman. Now, what is the significance of this for me? Yet again, my ignorance is revealed! 

    I do not have any predilection for conversation with strangers. To be quite honest, my conversational skills are lackluster, so I just choose to keep to myself, but I think a more fundamental explanation for this aversion to spontaneous conversation is found in my fear of embarrassment. For whatever reason I have allowed myself to be habituated to the thought that conversing with others is weird. I'm sure others share a similar feeling, but it is something I seek freedom from. 

    Humans were made to be together. We are social creatures by the constitution of our nature. So why would I not want to do what I was made to do? That is something I am still trying to get to the bottom of. Meeting others helps us to learn about how strange and different, yet simultaneously familiar and similar, the human experience is. This is something I have been trying to grow in for a while. It is difficult for me to overcome the fear of judgement that I presume will be cast upon me in speaking to others. What I try to focus on is the good that can arise from speaking to others. I have had some beautiful experiences in the instances where I have been successful in actually trying to speak to others. There is a lot of good found in the lives of others, but a prerequisite of this encounter is tearing down the barriers we put between us and another human being. 

    A random girl taught me quite a lesson that day. It is amazing what one can learn at Kwik Trip. More instances of convenience store philosophizing to come. 

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