- One stranger I still remember that I actually will never forget because he changed my life. No matter how hard I try to forget I'll never forget him actually. So it was a guy that I was helping out. I kind of sort of knew him, but
he was basically a stranger. But I didn't get any bad vibes off of him. He seemed like a good guy. Never hit on me. Never gave me a bad feeling at all, but he needed help to get back home to get to a job so he could
work to get back to his kids. So I'm a sucker story for... Or a sucker for a kid story
and I wanted to help him out. So I said, "Well, you know,
I'm not working right now. I have the time. I have the
money. I have the vehicle. Have family in Texas. How
about I just drive you?" And so I decided to drive him. Decided to drive the trip to Texas. He was driving when we got to Billings and all of a sudden he changed. I mean the look in his eyes was different. He looked evil. He didn't
look like him anymore. And he started to hit me
in the head and shoulders and he was trying to bash my
head off the dash of the car but I was actually in really
good shape at the time 'cause I was the lead installer
for Great Energy Solutions. So I had real big upper
body. I worked in attics. So I was able to stop myself
from him hitting my head, and I'm laughing there because I was ornery and fiery and I wasn't gonna let him do whatever he was gonna do easily. So every step of the way, for the two and a half days
that he had me, I fought him. You know, I paid for everything that I did but at the same time, every time I pissed him off or hurt him or just one of these things, it was a victory for me, it kept me going. I'd given up like the second night. I'd given up pretty much. I was curled up in the
passenger seat in kind of a ball 'cause he'd been hitting me
again in the back of the head and on the shoulders and
on the back and everything. So I just kind of curled
up crying, given up, just waiting for it to end. He said that he was gonna
take me up to the mountains, kick the out of me, and
kick me off the mountain. And so I'm thinking, "Okay,
I'm gonna die now. Great." But I'm thinking, "I'm
gonna take him with me. He's not gonna be able to
do this to anybody else. He's gonna pay for what he's done to me." So I was like, "Okay,
fine. This is gonna happen. Hopefully, I can try to do
something when I get there." But then I started thinking. My dad's gonna have to identify my a body. And that's actually what
stopped me from a accepting it and trying to think of
how to get out of it. And see now I'm gonna end up crying. But I'm not. It's okay. Because I got out of it. But yeah, I couldn't fathom the fact that my dad was gonna
have to identify my body. 'Cause if he's gonna kick
the out of me, you know, what am I gonna look like? So I started thinking,
"What am I gonna do? What do they do in Lifetime
network movies, right?" So I Lifetime networked
him, is what I say. So I told him that I loved him, I forgave him for everything he did to me, and I wouldn't abandon him. I think this is the key to him. I told him I wouldn't abandon him no matter how bad he'd hurt me. At this point, we had
gotten off the highway and we're on a gravel road. But when I said that to him, he started crying quietly and he actually slowed down
the car and stopped it. He said something like, "Look,
what you made me do," maybe. Turned around, got back on the highway. And then the next morning, he let me out in Fort Collins, Colorado. He gave me my car back at that same time. And I was free. I got my life back. Two and a half days. So yeah, I'll never forget him. I would have to say that I'm
a lot more leery of people. But I told myself I wasn't
gonna let it affect me on how I help people. I like to help people. I think people deserve a chance. I think people deserve a second chance. I'm always gonna be friends.
I'm always gonna be positive. I just try not to be so naive. (chuckles) I'm not gonna let anybody
get in my car, you know? Even if I've known him
for a short period of time and they seem like a good person, no, we're not gonna do that. Don't let anybody get in your car. The more you tell a story by
the way, the less power it has. So if you ever have anything
traumatic happened to you, talk about it. You gotta talk about it.
Don't hold it inside. - A stranger I still remember is someone I met on the bus, actually. He was asking his friend
what stop was coming up. He was trying to find his stop. And I overheard and responded. I was like, "Oh no, it's
actually the next stop." And then he asked me. He stopped. He's like, "Do you speak Spanish?" And I was like, "No, actually I don't. I just speak English and
a little bit of French." He's like, "That's super weird. I just asked that question in Spanish." And I still think about it to this day because I have no idea how I
understood what he was saying, but I totally helped him find his stop. And yeah, I still think
about it. (chuckles) - [Thoraya] How did you respond to him, I'm curious, when he said? - Yeah, he was just so
shocked and I was shocked, and all my friends and
his friends were shocked and we're just like, "What is happening?" Because he barely spoke English. I very much do not speak Spanish. Yeah, it was super crazy. (chuckles) - I remember this old lady. So I used to work at Trader Joe's in LA and she came through my
line, she was really sweet. And I remember her saying like, "Oh, you know I'm gonna have
a little charcuterie board by myself." And I was just like,
"Oh, where do you live? Like, I'll go hang out with you." And she just started kind of giggling. And I remember she got like all blushy and was just like, "Oh no.
No one wants to hang out with an old lady." And so we had like a really
pleasant conversation and then she left. And then like a few minutes later, she comes with a piece of... Actually, no, it wasn't
even piece of paper. She just told me straight up. She's like, "Oh, hey, by
the way, I live in..." And then she gives me her address. And she's like, "If you wanna
come anytime before six, you know, I would very
much appreciate it." And I just remember being like "Oh my God, like, yes, please." But I didn't have a pen and paper so I didn't remember the address, and then I never saw her again. But I just remember feeling so terrible 'cause I imagine she was
probably waiting for me and I never showed up. So that's one stranger I remember. And I think I'll remember her forever, and I'll always think about her. - I don't know his name. I
don't think I ever got his name. But I was walking through Singleton Park, which is this big, beautiful
park in Swansea in Whales, South of Wales. And it was at a time of
day like this, like dusk, and the colors were, it's
kind of pastel pink and blue, just like it is right now. And this guy, he's just in this tweed coat and he's riding his bike and
he had to look on his face that was just so content and happy to be riding his bike through
a park in his tweed coat. And then I saw him in the library and he was a librarian. And I had a brief interaction with him. Asked him where a reference
book was, he told him, and it was just very in keeping with his kind of pleasant,
content demeanor. And yeah, that just stayed with me. That sense of contentment
that he seemed to just exude. I think that some people just have like inherent, I don't know, goodness of them. There's like this quality
that comes through in their affectation
and their interactions that some person, a stranger that you can meet in five minutes and know that you could trust
leaving your kids with them kind of person. And he seemed to be of that ilk. - I was in New York city
and I think I was moving in, and I had like a big box
of all kinds of stuff. I went to like Office Depot or something. And I was carrying this box and it was like summer and it was hot. And this man on the street, he told me I was too pretty
to be carrying that box. And I was like, "He's so right." (laughs) Like when I'm carrying a box, I just think about him and how he wouldn't want me
to be doing that. (laughs) - One stranger I still remember is, I was having a terrible day and I was walking down the
street and really angry, but I was wearing a really cute outfit. I felt really good, but I was sad. And this man on the corner of the street yelled out at me, "Like a
young Katherine Hepburn." And I like think about it often. And when I'm getting ready
in the morning and stuff I'm like, "Oh, would this get someone to like yell out at me?" And now when I'm shopping for clothes, "I'm like would Catherine
Hepburn wear this? Is this within the aesthetic?" Yeah, it was very influential, but in the best way possible. (laughs) - [Thoraya] Have you ever
wanted to get into acting? - I mean, yeah. You know, maybe that's another reason why it was a really exciting acknowledgement because I used to act a lot, and I stopped when I moved to the city and really focused on being a student. And it's something that
I secretly love a lot and I like to go to plays
and I sing in the shower, but it's something that I haven't
been doing in a long time. And so maybe that's another layer. Maybe we're getting at
some psychological level to the stranger's impact on me. (laughs) - One stranger I still remember
is on my fitness journey. I have lost almost 60 pounds, and I went to the gym and I just took my shirt off
to look at myself one day. Random dude, never met him,
never talked to him before. He just said, "Hey, man,
you look really good." Me and my friends that I work out with, we struggle a lot with our body. It's body dysmorphia. A lot of people know about that, and like you're never really
satisfied with yourself. You're never gonna be
happy with the way you look and I'm still not. But like just that one
person you never talk to, they just tell you that, it goes a long way 'cause it
makes you feel a lot better about yourself and who you are. - It was the first time I
felt like pretty in my life. This guy came up to me and said, "You have a very like
curious look to your face." And I had no idea what that meant but I thought that was a really cool way to like compliment someone. It was the first time
I've even complimented other than like physical... Like your general physical looks. 'Cause I've always wanted to be someone who asked a lot of questions and sees the world in a different way and I thought that curious
was a good way to say that. 'Cause I am a very curious person and I was cool that I
portrayed that to someone else and someone picked up on that. - There was this one time
I was at a gymnastics meet and I was like nine years old. I was walking by this stranger and I said to him, I said, "Oh, I'm sorry. I need to pass through. I'm sorry." And he looked at me. He said,
"What are you sorry for?" And I was like, "Oh,
well, I'm in your way. Like, I'm sorry for interrupting you." And he was like, "You
didn't do anything wrong. Don't apologize." I was just taken aback probably
because I was so young. And I talked to my dad about it after I was like, "That guy was
being a little bit rude," and he was like, "He was just teaching you a good life lesson." And it's true, like he really just was. I think it's just very important to use your words intentionally. And if we keep saying
sorry for everything we do, then we lose the value
of being apologetic. And so I just really value when people people apologize
to me and mean it now. And I do the same vice versa. - Okay. This was in Quebec city. And there was some tourists,
beautiful day like today. And a lovely family, a husband, wife and young child from China, this is like their
first trip out of China. And so he came up to me. "Can I take a photo?" he said. And I said, "Certainly. I'll take a photo of you and your wife." He said, "No, no, no. I want
a photo of you and my wife." So I posed and he took a
photo of me and his wife. And then I offered to take a photo of him and his family and "No way." So it was like I was a curiosity to him. - So I don't know his name.
I don't know who he was. When I was a kid, I was
like walking our dogs. I remember I saw this dude. He was bald, like totally
normal-looking San Diego guy. And he was walking his dog and I remember thinking, "Isn't it so funny how
you see all these people in your life that you don't remember and then you forget them?" And I have remembered that dude forever because of that thought. Told you it wasn't a good
story. It's such a lame story. But literally I think
about that all the time. Like just how you see all these people. You never remember them, but I remember this one, bald dude walking his German shepherd
by the park where I grew up. And that's my stranger. (chuckles) - There's this cartoon
character named Uncle Ruckus on "The Boondocks". And I was at the Euclid
Trolley Station down here and I seen this person with a little eye and he looked just like
him with the braids. That's where I knew characters is real, 'cause like I just knew the
sense of the story is real life. You know what I mean? It was crazy. - [Thoraya] You think
it was him in real life. - It had to be him. (Thoraya laughs) Hey, nah, 'cause he was mean too. He was yelling. He was yelling. I was just thinking like,
"Wow, that's crazy." You know what I mean? - So I remember the
person but not his name. - [Thoraya] Okay. - I met him hiking on the John Muir Trail in the High Sierras last September. I remember him because he was very open with his heart, sharing his experience of
this magical place that had touched my heart. It's like the, the most beautiful thing in the world to see something that
fills your heart but then you've got no one to share it with. And he shared it with me. I'll never forget him.
Always be glad for that. (soft piano music) - Hey, everyone Thoraya here. I wanted to say thank you
for watching this episode. I am still selling these
sweaters on my website. If you're interested, I'll
link it in my description. I love you guys. And I'll see you next week. (soft piano music)
