Speaker: Kio Stark
TED2016
Date: February 2016
Location: Vancouver, BC
Description from TED website:
“When you talk to strangers, you’re making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life — and theirs,” says Kio Stark. In this delightful talk, Stark explores the overlooked benefits of pushing past our default discomfort when it comes to strangers and embracing those fleeting but profoundly beautiful moments of genuine connection.
My Review / Notes / Thoughts
As I listened to this talk, I began to wonder if teaching our children about “stranger danger” has caused, or at least contributed to, the problems we are having in society today.
The point she made that had me thinking about this was at the end of the talk where she stated:
“When you talk to strangers, you’re making beautiful interruptions into the expected narrative of your daily life and theirs. You’re making unexpected connections. If you don’t talk to strangers, you’re missing out on all of that. We spend a lot of time teaching our children about strangers. What would happen if we spent more time teaching ourselves? We could reject all the ideas that make us so suspicious of each other. We could make a space for change.”
I highly recommend you go watch the video yourself so you can get the entire context of what she’s saying here. But what a thought! How much have our suspicions of others affected the events going on in our country over the past several months? What could we change if we adjusted our perception and learned to get to know others?
I’d also like to point out that this would make for a great lead into a discussion topic for a class (no matter the format of the class). One way would be to have students watch the video and post their thoughts. Or perhaps give them a prompt about a current event in society, have them watch the video, then respond to the prompt.
I believe there are many more possibilities for incorporating this into the classroom environment, especially in the social sciences.
If you want to learn more, definitely go watch the video (click the image above to access the video). She also has a book which I’ve linked to below.
Note: Links are affiliate links and I may receive a small commission if you make any purchases.
Nugent’s Book:
Until next time … live long life-learner!