Rob Lawless Sets Out On a Mission to Meet 10,000 Strangers
Walking With Strangers
A local man embarks on a daunting mission to spend an hour each with 10,000 people. Is he insane, or could we all learn something from the project?
May. 23, 2016
Strangers nada in and out of our lives almost constantly every day. They nudge in side by side to us on the El, they ring upwards our groceries, and even campaign for offices that govern our city. But despite a "Hello" here or an "I'll vote for you" there, our interactions with these people are sparse.
Maybe that's a expert thing—ane of our mothers' earliest warnings was to avoid people we don't know. But what if—now that we're all grown up—we did take that metaphorical candy from a stranger? Could it add together something to our lives? Spark a lifelong friendship, or mayhap an opportunity?
Those are questions we may soon accept an answer to thanks to an impossibly charming local sales representative, who recently embarked on an ambitious mission to run across with 10,000 strangers for i hour each. As someone relatively new to Philadelphia (he moved here in 2022 to piece of work for local startup RJMetrics), 25-twelvemonth-old Rob Lawless saw the project every bit a quick fashion to brand new friends and get to know this new urban center he calls home. Simply as he nears his 70th meetup, he's starting to see advantages he never imagined—for him and for those involved.
The undertaking was inspired by New Yorker writer Malcolm Gladwell'due south theory that information technology takes ten,000 hours of practice to accomplish mastery in a field. Lawless handily admits he isn't certain what kind of expert he could become by meeting then many people, simply connecting with others is something he naturally enjoys. "When I was [studying] at Penn State, I always used to stop to say hi to the people I knew or slightly knew on the way to class," he says. "I really enjoyed that feeling of knowing the people around me. I recollect this will allow me capture that aforementioned feeling in Philly."
"The style I run into information technology, you can either view Philly as the city you be in or the community y'all're part of," Lawless says. "More and more, I see it the second way, considering I'g beginning to empathise who's around me."
Lawless kicked off the initiative last November; by now, he has connected with 65 people at locations all around the city. (I spent an hour with him ii weeks ago at The Last Drib.) He'southward met with artists, students, musicians, and even an ABC traffic reporter, all of whom have given him a peek into worlds he may otherwise never have known. An hourlong coming together, he says, gives him and his guest a adventure to dig deeper, to exist able to get past the modest talk so they tin get to know each other a fiddling below the surface.
Already, the i-on-one encounters take enriched Lawless'due south relationship to Philadelphia. Subsequently meeting with local street artist Bister Lynn, for example, he now has a more meaningful experience when he sees one of her iconic goth hearts wheat-pasted on an abandoned building or storefront. On some other outing, he met with a transgender woman who helped him more fully understand what it ways to not identify with the gender yous were assigned at birth. That's something this frat boy from Norristown may never accept known—until he asked. Peradventure more importantly, he learned that being trans was simply a piece of her life; it didn't define who she was.
"She was also an actress, a quilt maker, a concert producer, an artist, and a mother," he says. "Going into our coming together, I thought I'd learn a lot about [her] existence transgender, but I really just learned a lot about her as another human being."
In coming together with then many different people from different backgrounds, Lawless says he'south becoming more aware of the things that are important to them and why. "I'm also generally more aware of Philly," he says. "Almost half of my meetings accept occurred in places I've never been. Information technology's getting easier to paint a articulate picture of the urban center considering I'm seeing and so many angles of it."
But he'southward non the just one reaping benefits.
One of his favorite stories is his meetup with Philly Magic Gardens creator Isaiah Zagar. They were strolling down E Passyunk Artery ane 24-hour interval when they stopped into a boutique where a clerk just and then happened to be creating her ain Zagar-inspired mural in the alley behind the store. Zagar was impressed enough to invite the woman over later on to teach her some of his techniques.
"Right there, you run across the touch on of his project," says Tracy Buchholz, a communications officer at the Support Center for Kid Advocates. She was Lawless's 49th meetup and the person who continued him with Zagar. "I'thousand confident at that place will be many more stories of others connecting because of Rob, which means not but is he able to fulfill his goal, but also be able to practice a greater good by connecting others for projects, conversations, and bringing together people that would otherwise stay strangers passing on the street."
Lawless hopes to stop the project by the time he'southward 35, which means he'll have to schedule three meetings every solar day for the next 10 years. That'south a lot of commitment for a guy with a forty-hr-a-week chore, but he says he's not sweating it.
The ability to inspire those types of connections betwixt others isn't something Lawless expected to happen when he began his mission, just now that it's manifesting, he hopes to keep it up. Information technology'due south helped him understand that customs is more a bunch of people living in the same area—it's the knowing, the sharing, the willingness to give a slice of your time to someone else. He hopes these meetups encourage others to come across that, also.
"It would be crawly to see other people in Philly break out of their shells and first to run across people," he says."I think knowing the people around you is what makes a potent community. The manner I see it, you can either view Philly as the urban center yous exist in or the community you're part of—more and more, I see information technology the second way, because I'thou beginning to understand who'due south effectually me."
Lawless hopes to finish the projection past the time he'due south 35, which means he'll take to schedule three meetings every day for the next 10 years. That's a lot of commitment for a guy with a twoscore-hour-a-week job, but he says he'due south not sweating information technology.
"Having a 10-year timeline may seem similar a long time to some people, just to me it seems short," Lawless says. "Role of what I hope to show through this projection is that beingness patient and building things pace-by-step tin can lead you to some pretty amazing outcomes."
As far as what he's actually edifice, time volition only tell. Personally, he hopes to quit his job and so he can focus on the venture full-time. To practice that, he's considering starting a blog, where he could sell ads and mayhap secure sponsorships. Down the road, he'd as well like to moving picture a documentary and maybe even write a volume about the experience.
For now, he'south documenting the whole thing on Instagram, where he posts photos and short bios on each of his new friends. So far he'southward depended on give-and-take of mouth to organize meetings—one connectedness will introduce him to a few more people, and the cycle continues. He likes that organic arroyo, merely with nine-and-a-half years and nine,935 more than people to go, he'south going to have to upwardly his game. If yous want to accept function, contact Lawless to pencil in your hour meeting. Yous can reach him via email at [email protected] or direct message him on Instagram at @robs10kfriends.
Photo Header: Rob Lawless with his 42nd meetup, James Adams
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Source: https://thephiladelphiacitizen.org/rob-lawless-walking-with-strangers/
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