In Defense of Strangers
A before-and-after editing sample.
Editing sample: “In Defense of Strangers”
Written by Adrien Behn
The etymological notion underlying strange is “being beyond the usual bounds or boundaries”, which later evolved into foreign. This becomes personified by the word “stranger” an unknown person. One not within your typical bounds or boundaries: an outsider, a foreigner, a newcomer, not “one of us”. Humans are instinctively tribal, we protect whom is in our tribe and look at others incredulously. The word stranger has become synonymous with the unknown. According to some, the unknown can scare us or excite us, some of us thrive off of the unknown and others prefer to stay at home. But, we are born wanderers, or else people wouldn’t have inhabited Easter Island, Greenland or Argentina, all being thousands of miles from our origins in Africa. And what was the benefit of that? We learned! We discovered! We invented and progressed. We crossed paths with individuals who were different than us in body, color, and customs. We advanced, we loved, blended, and conquered the globe. By no means has all of this been peaceful. While we traveled some of us continued to look upon the other with suspicion and was never able to open up their egos to see the similarities. The stranger became a threat that we needed to protect our homes, our loved ones, and our egos. Oh, our egos. The single thing that thwarts us from progressing and seeing the commonalities between each other. Which is why the word stranger holds a negative connotation because this “other” isn’t like “me” therefor it is scary because it threatens everything I know to be true and am comfortable with. So, there couldn’t possibly be any benefit from interacting with strangers then right?
Edited by Jay Dixit
The word “strange” originally meant “beyond usual boundaries,” and evolved to mean “foreign” only later. Today, the word “stranger” includes the connotation of being new and unknown — a newcomer or outsider who is by definition not “one of us.”
Humans are instinctively tribal. We’re driven protect our own tribe and see outsiders with suspicion. Strangers represent the unknown, and the unknown can be either scary or exciting. While some prefer the comfort of home, there are those among us who live for novelty and adventure.
We humans are born wanderers. How else could we have reached Easter Island, Greenland, and Argentina, so far from our origins in Africa. And what did those journeys get us? We learned! We discovered! We invented and progressed.
We encountered people who looked different from us and practiced different customs. We advanced, we loved, we blended, and yes, too often we killed and conquered.
Because even as we wandered, we continued to regard strangers with suspicion, unable to discern how similar we really were. In strangers we perceived threat — against which we felt compelled to defend our homes, our loved ones, and our egos.
Oh, our egos. The jealous, insatiable succubus that blinds us to our common humanity. Ego is why the word stranger still connotes danger. If the “other” isn’t like me, then surely they must be wrong and frightening. And if that’s the case, why would anyone want to interact with a stranger?