People on the Subway

Yesterday I had lunch with my friend Charan Singh from work. Charan is not from Utah he is from Delhi, India. Charan is not Mormon he is Sikh. Charan smokes, and by his own admission has a couple of other unhealthy habits. He is liberal and outspoken. On the surface Charan and I have nothing in common other than we are male, we are married, we have the same job and we both laugh outloud when someone trips and falls. He is not a person I would probably hang with on the weekend or join he and his wife for dinner on a Friday night and plan a vacation together.

Charan has a contagious laugh and I love his sing-song lilting Indian accent. He is an extremely intelligent man in his early thirties and one of the best options traders I have ever met. He and I have led completely different lives. We don't have politics or religion in common.

Charan has a gift of understanding human nature. He is very philosophical and has an insight into what makes people tick and why they think what they think. On many occasion he has shared his observations of me and my successes and failures; my complaints and challenges. He has offered me some incredible insight and advice on conquering the demon I seem to be afflicted with at present. He has said things to me that have stopped me in my tracks and voiced truths that have been painful to hear. He has caused me to ponder and think deeply on what is holding me back in certain areas of my life. He has truly been instrumental in my recent decision and success with dieting.

A week ago he and I were moved to a quiet area of the office and will be working in close proximity to one another. He came up to me yesterday with a BB gun in his hand and asked me to come out and shoot it with him. We set up a water bottle and took turns plugging holes in it from 20 yards. We laughed. He told me a story about when he was a boy. He shot a bird with a BB gun. He felt so bad he picked the bird up in his hands and cried. He took the bird to his temple and asked for forgiveness and vowed never to shoot a bird again. I remember having a similar experience as a young boy. I hit my bird with a rock. I picked the bird up in my hands and cried and vowed never to throw a rock at another bird. After target practice he invited me to go to lunch with him. I am grateful for my association with this man and his insight and caring. He will truly be a light and a mentor and help me improve my thinking and my performance.

OK- Back to the people on the subway.

Our lives are filled with people that are homogeneous to ourselves and our beliefs. We spend the majority of our time with people that think like we do, believe how we do and look through the same glasses. Nothing wrong with that. That is human nature and allows us the luxury to be comfortable in our surroundings and validate our thinking and our lives.

I have had occasion to ride the subway in a few large cities. We board, find a seat alone somewhere and look at all the suspicious and dark people around us. We would never be friends with them. We most likely would never engage in a conversation with them. What could we possibly have in common with these people? And after all, we will only be associated with them for the next 5 to 10 minutes. How many people do we come in contact with that are like the people on the subway? People we work with. People in the line at the store, or seated next to us in an airplane or at a sporting event. People that are very different than ourselves. Men and women that lead different lives, have different political views, religious beliefs, cultures and ethnicity. People we think couldn't possibly know our struggle or have any insight to help us cope, work through or ultimately change our stars. People like Charan that we would never talk to on the subway. After all, we will only be travelling with them for 5-10 minutes.

It is those very people that look at life through different glasses that could potentially share with us the most insightful thoughts about our own journey. They could make our journey much richer, help us see things from a unique perspective and open our minds and hearts to real positive change. You never know. Maybe I could share something from my different life experience that would help them.

My challenge to myself is to talk to more people on the subway. The God I believe in talks to all of them. He listens to them and helps them find answers to their prayers. He helps them see their struggle in a different perspective so it becomes a more positive experience. That's why He is God. He created us all different for a very good reason. Why shouldn't I be more like Him and talk to all the people on the subway?