April 26, 2021

Strangers in Row 30

By Ewa Szeszko

As I write this article I’m in the window seat of a plane, flying back home from Florida, sitting next to two strangers. My laptop is angled towards me so that my two new friends can’t see that I’m currently relaying our entire conversation to the Hopelessly Yellow community. I have always liked traveling alone because of the variety of new people that I could meet, and this trip was no exception. Seated next to a 14 year old girl about to graduate eighth grade and a mom who’s flying to celebrate her daughter’s new job, the strangers I shared a row with could not have more different realities.

Had this plane ride happened about 6 months prior, I don’t think any conversations would have taken place. Plagued by a pandemic and scared of the person next to us coughing too loudly, 6 months ago, I would have put my head down, headphones in, and routinely switched through the apps on my phone for the whole flight. Maybe it’s the warming weather, the possibility of a fully vaccinated country in the coming months, or just the friendliness of people deprived of social interaction but whatever it is, I turned away from what has become my new normal and tuned in to the conversation that hasn’t stopped since out seatbelt signs clicked off. We have all become so accustomed to talking to people through a screen: Zoom calls with cameras off, Instagram commenting, Snapchats with filters, and emails with too many exclamation points; everything about our social interactions has become fake. So, sitting here, holding a face-to-face conversation with people I have no relation to is surreal and exciting.

Technology has pulled us away from the warm friendliness of a stranger and masks have hidden kind smiles so this conversation was a pleasant surprise. With our phones on airplane mode and my laptop the only visible equipment of technology, we ascend further into the air as three strangers share more and more about themselves.

Lately, our worlds have been consumed by technology. We often miss the opportunities and events happening right under our noses because we’ve become so engrossed in our phones and our own lives. Look up from the screen. Look around you. The world is waking up. Spring has come, flowers are blooming, the end of the pandemic is in sight, and the world is basking in the opportunities that lay ahead. Are you paying attention to the things around you? Because despite coming from completely different backgrounds, the three of us seated in row 30 have been able to find common ground.

An eighth grader about to graduate virtually, a college student yet to attend her first in-person lecture, and a teacher trying to find the best alternatives to Zoom for her 3rd-grade students have never been so happy to share advice and exchange stories. We speak highly of the wonders of technology but rejoice at the prospect of a completely different school year in the fall: a new high school student excited for in-person classes, a college sophomore overjoyed to return to campus, and a teacher anxiously awaiting to welcome her students back to the classroom. Technology is innovative and essential to our society’s functioning throughout the pandemic, but at the end of the day, we need social interaction whether it be with our closest companions or the most random strangers.

This plane ride conversation has made me realize that spring has brought with it an overwhelming amount of hope. The cold weather has thawed to welcome unparalleled friendliness. While I’ll most likely never see these strangers again, I truly hope that they find the silver lining in all of this madness. We’ve put down our personal devices and had a conversation with strangers –something each of us has been unable to do in a very long time. So, I hope you put down your phone and focus on human interaction instead. But for now, I have to go — I have a conversation to finish.

Edited By Emily Wyngarden