in a busy world with tons of places to go and crowds to gather with, there are at least three environments that I feel more familiar and comfortable just by the nature of the place. Even if there is little direct interaction, most humans like being near like-minded people.

My three places are all easy to find in any city,

I love coffee shops, university area coffee shops probably being the most ideal. There is something about people who are trying to learn/work, or caffeinate/stimulate their brain, or hang out in a nice casual chatting environment. There is very little of this environment that is antagonistic or stressful. People may bring their stresses but the coffee shop is your ally in addressing those. Coffee shops are pretty much always on your side. Customers of coffee shops are perceived to be more well informed, more ambitious, more artistic. All of these to me are valuable starting points for finding people to relate to and be interested in. The higher class entitlement, and perhaps snooty attitude of a coffee-shop-regular creeps up quite often, but I guess that goes with the territory.

Airports are pretty great too. Many of the employees understand the value of efficiency and getting people through and served. The travellers in airports have some place to go, and while it is not exactly easy to chat with people who are busy. There are still some times of downtime, or even cooperation for mutual goals, or scenarios. It is an ultimate battle of people vs external force. There is some danger for a subtle selfish move becoming a huge deal if you affect someone else, but those incidents aren’t too frequent when I travel. It is also a great way to be around young families, or high end corporate types, explorers of the world and some other people groups that all come together.

Nonprofit establishments round out this list of places with people I generally appreciate. Caring for others being part of the common goal is something quite precious in a capitalist selfish society. Not all employees have a healthy pleasant attitude regarding the cause, or business they are involved in, but the ones who are good, and believe in the cause are the ones who stick around. Also, the ones looking out for their own benefit could easily switch to something with higher profits when an opportunity arises. That is not to say good people don’t leave, or bad people don’t stay in a nonprofit, but they are good indicators for having a more altruistic value system.

Where else are there places with predominant value systems?