A man who discovered Consequential Strangers in a bookstore in Cleveland and then asked, via Facebook, to be my “friend” (read: consequential stranger) posted a link on my wall today, with the message: “Melinda, here’s a wondeful CS story.”
Wonderful, sad, and hopeful all at the same time. The article, Englishman’s Search for a Heart Touches Hearts in Cleveland,” by Regina Brett appeared in the October 9, 2009 online version of the Cleveland Plain Dealer. It tells the saga of Stephen Bacon, who “traveled from Cambridge (England) to Cleveland in search of a new heart.” When he arrived in 2007, he had only a few phone numbers of Clevelanders. Ultimately, as Brett reports, “A community formed around him.” A community of consequential strangers. She tells his story better than I could. It doesn’t have a happy ending in the conventional sense, but it certainly underscores the fact that every relationship matters.
