Was thinking the other day, how often we are so involved in our own interior dialogues that we often don't notice who's in front of us. "How are you?" is almost a meaningless addition to "hello", and we don't really expect an answer. Even when someone asks us that question, we often just say "fine", and pass on, or perhaps share a few more words about something...maybe the weather? maybe something in the news? Our culture does not encourage a more current "report" to what's really going on.
Often, people passing by have heads down, or are looking far ahead, anything not to have eye contact with those also taking up space on the sidewalk.
We never know the burden that others may be carrying, as we wait in a line to pay for our groceries, or wait at the bank machine for our turn, or wait at the gas pumps, or...so many places where we could smile at those around us. A pleasant expression, and a smile, could be making someone's day a little easier. Do they have someone at home who is ill, perhaps terminally, or it could be a handicapped situation? Is there a divorce going on, someone has lost their job, been downsized, or there's trouble at school with a child? A parent is absent, or ill?
A moment of kindness, of time, the simplicity of a smile, which acknowledges even to a stranger that we noted they were taking up adjacent space to us...it can make a big difference to how someone continues through their day. It's not important that we know the outcome, but it is essential that we "pass it along". "It" being, of course, that positive energy that a smile delivers.
Your thoughts? Always welcome!
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