In our day-to-day lives we will encounter hundreds if not thousands of people within a 24-hour span. Between social media, going out in public and even at work you will be encountering people all day. There will always be one person (usually a stranger) that we will remember for a very long time. Something must happen for us to remember something or someone that affects or will affect our life. We do not remember everyone we encounter throughout the day, in fact more like 50% of them we will not remember by the end of the day. How many people do you encounter in just an hour if you are out shopping or doing errands?
Thinking about the people we encounter.
When we think about the people, we encounter per day we may think it is not very many or maybe just a few hundred. But break it down to something simple like a trip to the grocery store. Usually, you are greeted at the door (1 encounter). Think about how many times you asked, or some asked you if could move or they needed an item next to you (3 encounters). You needed help with an item or getting something off a shelf (1 encounter). Waiting in the checkout line and the person in front of you starts small talk with you (1 encounter). At check out the person running the self-checkout, or the cashier talks to you (1 encounter). As you leave the store an associate says have a great day (1 encounter). In this little scenario there were 8 encounters. Now if we have a day of shopping and running around think about how these encounters can add up. Do you think you encounter at least 8 people or more in a single shopping trip?
Encounters through technology.
With technology expanding, more and more people getting scam calls we encounter people more than we can imagine. Looking at your phone look at how many people text you and you responded or vice versa. Also look how many times someone called you or you called someone and talked to them. Most likely that’s a lot of encounters right there but now we can triple it by looking at your social media account where someone or you commented on something and they either responded or you responded to a comment. While social media is a different type of encountering, we still interact with people indirectly. The thing about social media is when we interact with someone, we do not know we tend to look up their profile or see how they know us, or we might know them. How many people have you commented, and they commented back to you or vice versa over social media today?
Someone to remember.
The people we encounter every day, it would be very hard to remember each and every person we came in contact with. Especially when most people have a hard time reciting what they did yesterday. For us to remember some stranger we encounter in a day it must have an effect on us or our life. The affect can be something emotionally, physically, inspiring, or even a lesson of some sort. Many people can have little effects on us but the ones that leave the biggest effects on us are the ones we will remember encountering for a long time. Have you ever had someone you encounter that had some effect on you that you still remember to this day?
The people I encounter that I remember.
There are many people I have encountered that I remember to this day. Some I honestly don’t remember their names and others I can picture them as if I just talked to them yesterday. I remember having this one patient who had a month to live. He was so inspiring and had a positive attitude. I will never forget his positivity and it’s how I want to be, a very positive person. Another patient I had was famous, I did not know this when I met her, but she was just so kind and very honest. I loved listening to stories about her life and how inspiring she was that she never gave up on her dreams. It wasn’t until a couple weeks later my partner, and I found out she was famous and when we asked her about it; the more stories she told us. There are people I remember from my childhood some who I helped with their daily chores and/or around their house. There were two elderly people at church I like to hang around. The elder man would sneak me a piece of gum, in return I would make sure he had coffee in his cup. The elder woman was very wise, and I would help her clean up the church after hours. We encounter so many people throughout our life and only a handful will leave their mark in our hearts.
Who was the stranger you encountered that you would remember for the rest of your life because they left a mark on your heart?
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