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As often as possible, I walk home for lunch and then back to work afterward. Quite often, I encounter the same individual walking past me. I don’t know this individual, but I say hello or good afternoon because that’s what I’ve always done. I acknowledge people and try to be friendly. In this case, in response to my friendly greeting, I get nothing.
The individual does not say hello, wave, nod or in any way even acknowledge my existence. Sometimes I’ve been tempted to pluck out a mustache hair just to see if I’m dreaming or if I still exist.
This isn’t a singular experience. It seems to happen fairly regularly that I greet someone and they barely muster a grunt, much less say hello. Sure, we might not know each other, but we can still say hi and be friendly.
I know I’m getting older because I’m about to say ‘back in my day.’ Back in my day, people politely greeted each other when passing. That’s just what we did. It’s part of what makes a community. That friendliness is one of the perks of living in a small town. At least it used to be.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who has noticed this. Another community member recently told me that he likes to say hi to people he passes while out walking to see how they react. He said many don’t say anything and some don’t even look at him. He mentioned this to me because he periodically encounters my kids while out for a walk. I was happy to hear that when he says hello to them, they cheerfully greet him in return. I mentioned it to my kids and they had no idea what I was talking about or who he was. They, apparently, are just civilized human beings who greet others when they are greeted.
Sometimes I wonder if our culture has become so accustomed to communicating via some sort of device that we no longer know how to communicate to an actual human right in front of our face. I’m certainly no suave conversationalist, but shoot, even I can say hello and acknowledge another person.
In John 13:35, Jesus said, “By this all people will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another.” A simple greeting and acknowledgment of someone else’s existence is a pretty minimal way to show love to a neighbor, in my opinion, but at least it’s something.
Greeting those around is also good for us. A Gallup poll about health and well-being that was conducted last year found that adults who regularly say hello to multiple people in their neighborhood reported a higher level of well-being than those who do not.
So, go ahead and give it a try. It won’t hurt, and it might actually be good for you.