Little Boxes

So many people are shut up tight inside themselves like boxes, 

yet they would open up, unfolding quite wonderfully, 

if only you were interested in them.  

- Sylvia Plath -

Last Sunday, while taking the train from Roskilde to the Copenhagen airport, I met a foreign exchange student from Latvia.   We sat next to each other in silence for twenty minutes or so, and then he shyly observed how Isaac looked like he wanted to play.  I could barely hear him.

"Is he yours?" he asked.
"Yes.  I'm sorry if we're crowding you."  Isaac had moved off my lap and lodged himself into the two inches of free space between our seats (he was practically sitting on the guy at this point).
"Oh no, I love kids."

And this began an inspiring conversation that lasted the next half hour.  We covered every topic from Latvian culture and climate, Christmas traditions, economics and finance, and travel in the U.S.  I reached the airport in a completely different frame of mind than when I'd left the apartment that morning, feeling particularly awe-struck by how refreshing a simple conversation with a stranger can actually be.

... Which makes me wonder ... What other stories are waiting to be heard?