I invited complete strangers over for dinner
Why I did it and what it taught me
Back in November of 2018, I did a project called ’50 acts of kindness.’ From baking cookies for all my neighbors to handing out roses on a rainy afternoon, I did 5 acts of kindness every day for 10 days. It showed me how much a simple act of kindness can do, however, it also made me realize how unusual kindness is.
Yes, sure, we work on being kind to our families, our friends, and hopefully ourselves — but being kind to a complete stranger is odd. We barely look at each other in the eye, let alone say ‘Good morning!’ to a neighbor.
We post pretty pictures on Instagram with captions like ‘treat others the way you want to be treated’, but we rarely practice what we preach. We might be a kind person, but outside our family and friends, we don’t often practice kindness.
Fast forwards to February 11th, 2018: I decided that I want to invite complete strangers over for dinner for Valentine’s day.
Firstly, I wanted to meet new people in an unusual way and do something that I myself would have loved to be a part of. A complete stranger inviting me over for dinner with a bunch of other strangers? Yes, please.
Secondly, I wanted to see if I’d actually be able to pull it off — how many people would say YES to this bold…
