Trust Issues

I just got home after a night of celebrations. I celebrated with different groups of friends, groups with which I have built trust on different levels. After several months of debating as to whether or not I should start writing on Steemit, I decided I will tell you about the ride home.

On my way home, I did not stop speaking. I spoke to every person who was willing to listen and more importantly, I tried to listen to them speak. The security officer at the club, who is a military man, some women on the metro, some men on the street-car, some others while waiting to be served a Cola Zero at the wurstel stand. For the most part, people probably thought I am either very drunk or plain old crazy. I was not drunk, and I am not sure about the crazy.

I met a 23-year old, dread-lock wearing dude, named Nikolas and I freestyled for him. He said blockchain is cool, but it will not change the world because it doesn't matter which technology money uses, people will not change. He was a very nice guy and I hope he will text me one day.

I spoke to 3 women and they were all scared to talk to me at first because it was 4 or 5 am and I am a man. Why do these women see themselves only as objects of sexual desire? If I am a friendly guy first and a businessman second, how does it make any sense for me to only make friendships and network with men, with only 50% of the population in this world?

One woman said she was not scared, just tired. She works at a hotel and I work with Airbnb. Two of these women were Bulgarians and I tried to explain to them that for some reason, I have a very strong connection with Bulgarians and that many of my good friends here in Vienna are Bulgarians. They were just confused as to why I was speaking to them in the middle of the night. They said that it's probably because they have high heels and makeup on.

I spoke to a man named Hermann who helps wounded people get their physiotherapy at home. He was pretty open and he agreed with me on many points. I told him I want to think of a way to make him some money, but he said he did not need money because he is happy. I responded by telling him that he does need money because I know that he will give the rest to people who really need it, to which he agreed.

The last person I spoke to was another security guard, a Muslim named Islam and I told him I am a Jew and that we are brothers, but I did not get the chance to teach him about a new fascinating technology, which will turn any regular security guard into a real-life Robocop, because I had to get off on the next stop.

What I did not do was sit on my phone and check my relatively insignificant cryptocurrency portfolio every second. I did not even check my Slack messages, nor my WhatsApp messages. I do not need my phone to connect with people when there are real, live, people, beside me on the streetcar / tram. The majority of these people were scared at first to talk to me, but with a little bit of effort and a lot of openness, some responded. Can you imagine that people are scared to talk to other people? To them, it's just strange.

The other day, my wife told me she is scared to go to the gas station at 1:00am, to pick up some eggs for my son who woke up and said he's hungry, even though she has a car, there are cameras all over the gas station, and it would really be in and out. I understand why, but I hate that this is a fact of life. Does anyone else think this is an absolute catastrophe and that something very strange is going on?

Not only do I trust strangers not to do me harm, but I believe in them. When I speak with people, and I mean really speak with them, their stories give me hope. I hope people will feel empowered after speaking with me and I hope they will empower and believe in the next person they see as well. I guess, in the end, what I'm really 'preaching' is let us choose love instead of fear. Let's see in other people what they do not see in themselves.