How to Make Friends with Anyone

W.B. Yeats* once said that "There are no strangers; only friends you haven't yet met." This quote runs in stark contrast to something my parents told me, which was "Never talk to strangers." This is because, sometimes, strangers can be creepy.

*I've never met Yeats, so I don't know if he lived by the principle or not. Truthfully, I had to look him up on Wikipedia to learn anything about him. More truthfully, I didn't even look him up on Wikipedia. I just Googled the quote.

I ride bicycles a lot and I wear bicycle clothes. This is usually all the icebreaker I need to kickstart a conversation. So I stopped at a place called the Fiddler's Hearth and I did what I do.


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I met a guy named Tony in Mishawaka. Tony's in the Army and rides bikes to stay in shape in between tours. He's getting ready for a sort-of-big ride into Michigan. Dude was blown away by my 125-mile ride. He has fought in wars, but I was the hero. Cool guy. He should quit smoking though. (His words, not mine.) (Also, my words.)

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I met a girl named Sam who dropped out of college a few years ago after three-and-a-half semesters. That's like quitting a race when you're only a couple hundred yards from winning the Triple Crown. (Bad example. Also, topical.) I told her to go back to school. She said she would. I have no way of holding her to it.

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I met the team of people that organized Michiana* Bike-to-Work Week. One guy owns a bike shop in town, another just finished a Habitat for Humanity project in Las Cruces, New Mexico. Eight weeks ago I knew one person in that town. Now I know a few dozen. This seems like a good sign.

*Michiana is the term used to describe the greater South Bend area, extended into Michigan. It includes, Niles, Dowagaic, and a number of other fairly inconsequential towns. People from South Bend hate the term Michiana. The Michiganders don't mind it so much.

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I met a guy named John who's a painter by trade, but his life's passion is hot sauce. He's been making, bottling, and distributing his own line of hot sauces since 1991, and I met him in downtown South Bend today. He had samples. I tried the samples. They were incredible. I think I will buy some. He told me it's all under-the-radar, and that he doesn't claim his revenue on his taxes and that this makes the hot sauce some sort of illegal contraband kind of hot sauce. Let's be honest; that makes you want it.

John got into hot sauce because he was always going to a jazz festival in New Orleans. He had wanted to be some kind of musician, but didn't have the drive or innate talent. But, he could hold on to the tastes he'd experienced and so he created a new hot sauce. Hot sauce enthusiasts are beyond excited about New Mexico.

He wished me luck and God speed. I'm not sure what that phrase means, but I'd be good with 18.5 miles per hour.