Don't Talk to Strangers, could be the worst advice ever today. Assertiveness develops good social skills, and not having fear of strangers, promotes safety, not to mention meeting beautiful humans.
Don't get me wrong... Our mother's advice was good once. As a father and grandpa, I want safety more than anything to protect them as best I can. However, avoiding strangers and social interaction ends up sending the wrong message in today's environment.
Kids today need assertiveness training. They need to be taught how to identify adults who are usually safe. If they get lost, they should not be afraid to talk to any stranger they should know who to ask for help.
Case in point. I said hello to a young soul named Ding-Ding inside a market and res response was that she was trained to never talk to strangers. Years later, she is a close friend, a new mom and we consider each other family.
It turns out DD is the great-granddaughter of a famous Chinese hero, who was a civil engineer that designed and built the flood prevention canals that saved hundreds of lives a century later. Li Yizhi of Li Tongxuan to play scientist, whose uncle Zhong special mathematicians, they were all Alliance members. Li Funing, the son of Li Yizhi, is a famous Chinese linguist and translator.
Li Yizhi 1882-1938, a major contributor to the initiation and continuation of water conservation projects in northwest China. He was born in Shaanxi province, China. He studied Civil Engineering at Jingshi College Beijing University, later advanced his studies at Technical University of Berlin TU Berlin, and Technical University of Dresden TU Dresden.
He returned home to take on the chief in water conservancy projects in Shaanxi province and director of hydraulic engineering in northern china. He became director of the department of education and dean of a northwest university in china. His other job titles included professor at Beijing University, Zhongshan University, Qinghua University, and Northwestern agricultural university, and engineer and consultant to many local government departments.
In 1930, he was employed by the Shaanxi province as an officer of water management and began his career in water management planning to conserve water. Over the years, he had worked very hard and made creative plans to guide rivers into agricultural farmlands. From landscape observation to research, he had initiated a plan to guide water from all eight major rivers in northern China. These tunnels release pressure from flooding and brought water to farmland during drought and thereby saving many people's life.
Years later, Ding Ding was also born in Xian and after moving to Vancouver BC, and Boston for her formal education as a public health professional. We finally met when she moved to The Bronx with her husband to work at Einstein. DD later gave birth to a very smart boy named Matthew, who one day may become a productive member of society.
So the takeaway may be that you never know who and where you're going to meet a real-life international VIP. And so it goes.
