I asked a 57 year old man for life advice. Here’s what he had to say…

I met this well-kept old man at Barnes&Noble today and asked him,” if you could go back in time and give one advice to your younger self, what would it be?”

His smile gave away a chuckle. “What an odd question to ask a stranger! I love it.
I am 57 years old and I have travelled to a lot of countries while meeting a lot of people and so here’s what I would say; If you have something to do but you are scared to do it cause of what others might think; just do it! No one person is alike. If some one doesn’t like how you are, that’s their fault. Not yours. Don’t blame yourself and stop doing what you want to do! Your job is to be nice and helpful to others, not to worry about what others think.”

I interrupted him by saying,” an example would definitely help me understand better.”
He exclaimed,”Certainly! In the early 90s I worked as a taxi driver. I worked long hours to make ends meet so I couldn’t find the chance to meet people. So I tried conversing with people while at work! I know it is non-conventional but I still did it. A lot of people didn’t want to talk or wanted to keep quiet. That’s fine. It’s not my fault neither is it theirs. But as I met a lot of people, I realized, there’s a lot of friendly people out there who are down for a chat. You are a young fine man, and I applaud your courage for coming up to a stranger like me and asking such a question! Don’t stop being friendly regardless of anyone. If you meet 1 rude person, there are 100 friendly people out there waiting to meet you! So don’t isolate yourself even if society wants you to!