The influence of strangers in your life...

Yesterday in the metro a passenger in front of me called my attention, he was speaking in french but suddenly said a sentence in English: " when you put water in a glass, it becomes it, it becomes the glass" and then switched to French again I got curious about what he meant with this and remembered a really cool theory that I heard in one of my airplane trips and I found fascinating as I am passionate for all the theories regarding human interaction and communication. The theory is: "Consequential strangers".

According to Wikipedia:

"Consequential strangers is a term used to describe all relationships other than family and close friends. Also known as "peripheral" or "weak" ties, they lie in the broad social territory between strangers and intimates (see Definition below). The term was coined by Purdue University professor Karen L. Fingerman and further developed by journalist Melinda Blau, who collaborated with the psychologist to explore and popularize the concept." [1]

^{"Most of us walk through life interacting with people who skirt the edges of our social circles without realizing that they’re as important as our intimates. They punctuate our days, but we take them for granted: our coffee person and car mechanic, our coworkers and fellow volunteers, a golf buddy, a teacher, and most of our Facebook “friends.” They are all consequential strangers –- people who bring novelty and information into our lives, allow us to exercise different parts of ourselves, and open us up to new opportunities. They keep us healthy and are invaluable when we’re sick. They fuel innovation and propel social movements, and hasten the flow of new ideas. And they are vital in times of uncertainty." [Taken from: http://www.consequentialstrangers.com/about/ ]}

Are you aware of the strangers in your life?

^{[1] Karen L. Fingerman "Consequential Strangers: Peripheral Ties Across the Lifespan" edited by F.R. Lang and K. L. Fingerman (Eds.)Growing Together: Personal Relationships Across the Lifespan (New York, Cambridge University Press, 2004). Melinda Blau and Karen L. Fingerman, Consequential Strangers: The Power of People Who Don't Seem to Matter...But Really Do (New York: W. W. Norton, in press, August, 2009).}