Echoes of the Garage

Daily writing prompt

What’s a cultural tradition from another country that you wish existed in yours?

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📰 Wednesday, June 3, 2026 — 8:38 a.m.

Morning from Los Angeles.

Kindle-gray light outside the window.

Los Angeles is one of the biggest cities in the world.

And at the same time, it can feel incredibly isolated.

Maybe that’s the city.

Maybe that’s me.

Maybe it’s both.

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The prompt asks:

What’s a cultural tradition from another country that you wish existed in yours?

I immediately thought about my trip to Cancun in 2022.

It was my first time there.

And honestly, what surprised me wasn’t the beach.

It wasn’t the weather.

It wasn’t the hotels.

It was the people.

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People seemed genuinely curious about you.

Not in a strange way.

In a human way.

“How are you doing?”

“Where are you from?”

“Tell me about it.”

Questions like that.

Simple questions.

But they felt different.

Because people actually seemed interested in the answer.

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Another thing that threw me off was how easily people embraced strangers.

Not everyone, obviously.

No place is perfect.

But I experienced enough of it that I noticed the difference.

There was a warmth there.

A curiosity.

A willingness to engage.

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Then I came back home.

I landed at LAX.

Walked through the airport.

Made my way back into Los Angeles.

And I remember thinking:

I want to go back.

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Not because Cancun was paradise.

Not because life is magically better somewhere else.

But because I liked being around people who seemed curious about one another.

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The older I get, the more I think curiosity is one of the most underrated forms of kindness.

When somebody genuinely wants to know who you are, where you come from, or what you’ve experienced, it makes the world feel a little smaller.

A little less lonely.

A little more human.

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Maybe that’s the tradition I’d bring home.

Not the beaches.

Not the resorts.

Just a little more curiosity.

💬 Reader Question

Have you ever visited a place where the people felt noticeably different from what you were used to?

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