I read a quote that i cant quite remember and don’t know where it came from, but it goes something like: “how paper thin are the walls the divide us, how paper thin”. It fascinates me. Like how a group of people will sit on a bus and refuse to make eye contact or touch each other or speak. Its like there are invisible paper thin walls between all of us.

I remember being in an art gallery, a man came up and started talking about the painting i was looking at. Just chatting as if we were old friends. It was so weird, he had just torn through my paper thin walls in an art museum, where silence rules over all. When he felt i knew a bit about his university degree, his book club, his views on art and his girl friend and he knew a bit about me. But maybe not enough.

Whenever I have a short conversation with a stranger i leave smiling. It is a bit awkward and uncomfortable. but anything worth anything is always uncomfortable.

I think life would be so beautiful if we could tear down those walls that divide us. If we could smile to strangers. If every bus had a raging conversation. If we played music and danced in public places. If we all acted as if everyone were friends we hadden’t met yet. That would be paradise.

Thats why i love this site, FOUND Magazine. Its about found stuff. Random love letters, shopping lists, photos. They are like this window into other peoples lives. A little piece of their world, stuck to the bottom of your shoe. And in a crazy kind of way, it unites us. It connects strangers together. It tears little holes in the paper thin walls that divide us.

These are some of my favorites:

This note was found tied to a deflated balloon.

This not was found in a subway station.