What the World is Made of

This actually happened several months ago...

On my way home from work, slumped in a BART seat, playing some kind of puzzle game or something on the iPad, and some kid (early-mid 20's maybe) flops down - a little heavily - in the seat next to me.

Generally I kind of keep to myself on planes, trains, etc., and I kind of like it when others do the same, so my annoyance needle kind of twitches over to the right a little when this kid looks at me (which I feel through the side of my head even though I'm pretty pointedly looking at what I'm doing and not at him), and asks:

"Hey, can I ask you what the most important thing you've ever learned is?"

It's Friday, I'm looking at a weekend, and I had a reasonably good day, so I give him an honest answer.

"Never make a decision hot."

"Oh.... You mean, like, physically hot, or...?"

"No, emotionally hot - angry, excited, whatever."

"Oh yeah, okay.  How did you learn that?"

"By making the wrong decisions a bunch of times because I didn't know it yet."

"Ah.  Thanks."

Like I had just told him which stop was coming up next.

I go back to whatever pointless game I was fooling with for a second, then I think to myself that what that kid just did required a certain amount of courage - I mean, asking a complete stranger on a BART train what is the most important thing they ever learned was statistically pretty likely to get the answer "Not fucking talking to strangers on the train" or something similar - so I put away the game and ask him a question of my own.

"So...what made you ask me that just now?"

"Well, I look at this train, and there's all these people.  There's like hundreds of years of life experience right here in this train car, and I figure it's worth trying to benefit a little from that."

"Huh - interesting thought."

"Yeah - I like hearing people's thoughts and stories.  I kind of collect stories."

"Yeah, well, that's what the world is made of, right?"

At this, the kid goes all quiet, and looks at me like I just pulled a quarter out of my eye.

"Have you read that?"

"Uh...read what?"

"That book - 'The World is Made of Stories'?"

"It's a book?"

I had honestly never heard of it, nor had any recollection of hearing that phrase anyplace in particular.

The kid keeps looking at me with that your-clothes-are-on-fire look.  "That book changed my life - I tell all my friends to read it."

"Really?  Huh."

"Yeah."

We ride on without really talking any more until his stop comes up, and he gets off the train. "Hey - thanks for the wisdom."

"Sure, if you can call it that.  Take it easy."

I downloaded the book to my iPad, but haven't gotten too far in it.