Perfect Strangers

There is something absolutely amazing about a chance encounter with someone about whom you have no idea. No telephone numbers, no names exchanged. Conversations tend to flow freely and you find yourself wandering into territories that you would not venture into with even with someone close to you. Jokes are cracked, politicians are criticized, anecdotes are exchanged and even a local tip or two are shared. There is no pressure of tomorrow. And then, just as casually the conversation ends, you part ways, say your goodbyes and life goes on.

The Peace of Wild Things by Wendell Berry

When despair for the world grows in me
and I wake in the night at the least sound
in fear of what my life and my children's lives may be,
I go and lie down where the wood drake
rests in his beauty on the water, and the great heron feeds.
I come into the peace of wild things
who do not tax their lives with forethought
of grief. I come into the presence of still water.
And I feel above me the day-blind stars
waiting with their light. For a time
I rest in the grace of the world, and am free.

— Wendell Berry