When did you have a really deep conversation where you felt truly heard ？ Connections of this kind are completely necessary for people but they are not always easy to find. That's why one woman decided to take listening to the streets. Her name is Traci Ruble, a therapist (治疗师) who is concerned that people today are experiencing loneliness and lack personal connections. She understands that with busy lives and demanding jobs, people are unable to make these connections.
On a spring day in 2015, Ruble and a small number of volunteers set up chairs on sidewalks in 12 locations around San Francisco and invited people passing by to sit for a few minutes and chat. This was the beginning of the nonprofit Sidewalk Talk. The mission is to create public spaces of connections for people. Today, the organization has more than 4,000 volunteers in 40 cities. These volunteers come from a variety of backgrounds and receive training from the organization.
Sidewalk Talk gives people a chance to speak and be listened to but it is not therapy. "Volunteers are not communicating as a therapist out there. They're not there to solve someone's problems. They're there to practice being human," Ruble said. According to Ruble, therapy is one-sided and therapists are taught to avoid self-disclosure(自我表露) but by "being human" volunteers could approach interactions with communication about their own life and by showing sympathy (同情) for the people they talk with.
Today, an increasing number of people experience loneliness, according to a report from Harvard University. In fact, 31 percent of all Americans feel serious loneliness including 61 percent of young adults. To deal with that, rebuilding community relationships is vitally important. While Sidewalk Talk will not solve the loneliness problem, these chats could help someone have a brighter day. Knowing that there are sympathetic people who are willing to fully listen and share people's feelings could make all the difference to a lonely person.
