I was recently in San Francisco and was impressed by how friendly the people were.   It seemed like wherever we went, people were warm and helpful.  Looking a little bit lost in Golden Gate Park, a lady stopped and asked if we needed any help.  We went to a Giants game and all the staff appeared friendly.  This was not the obligatory, dead-panned, “thanks for coming.”  This was look you in the eye, smile and say, “thanks for coming!” After the game started a lady two seats down handed my wife the “Batting Stance Guy” book and asked, “would you like a baseball book?”  Of course I would like a baseball book!!  (As an aside, I had the opportunity to see The Batting Stance Guy live and in-person in Cincinnati last year.  So this was double cool for me.

Now I am back home in the Midwest where we assume that people are friendly. However, I find when I jog through my comfortable middle class neighborhood I get ignored by about half of the people I see.  I try to always look up prepared to say “hi” to everyone I see.  However, some don’t look up, some turn to the person they are walking with and some who are walking a dog, look down and talk to the dog as I pass.  The exception is joggers, it seems like a fellow jogger will always look up and acknowledge me.  I think that is because if you have ever trained for a long distance race, you have probably spent a lot of time outside, running alone and the brief distraction from putting one foot in front of the other by saying “hello” is always welcome.  

I do not live in a crowded, ultra-busy neighborhood,    But when I think about it, the folks I do not know personally do appear very friendly.  I remembered something one of my favorite college professors, Dr. Marc Lovelace, who taught history at Stetson University said once in class.  Stetson, where I started my college education, was a small residential campus where you may not have known everyone, but just about every face was familiar.  In class Dr, Lovelace was lamenting one day about walking past students on campus who would not look up and acknowledge  people they passed.  He said that one day he was just going to grab a student, shake them and say, “I said ‘hello’ to you!”

While that might be tempting, it would probably not go over well in my neighborhood or any neighborhood for that matter.  So, I will just keep looking up and smiling as I run and maybe slowly but surely more people will respond.  It really does not take much effort to be friendly so join me to help make the world a little friendlier.

Happy Friday!  Everyday we are inundated with hundreds of messages.  While many of these messages may be useful,  others are simply reiterating things that we already know>  Things that we know.  Things that EVERYBODY knows!

Is there really anyone left out there that does not know the following?  Are there others you would add to the list?

Enjoy!

Bridges freeze before roadways.

You can leave a message after the beep and hang up when you are done.

Close the cover before striking.

Car commercials use professional drivers on a closed course and you should not attempt.

Weight loss ad results are not typical and your results will vary.

Keep your arms and legs inside the vehicle at all times and stay seated until the ride comes to a full and complete stop.

Restrictions always apply.

A hairdryer and other electrical appliances are not to be used in the bathtub.

How to buckle a seat belt on an airplane (or anywhere else for that matter).

Contents of your coffee cup may be hot.

The little bag of silica gel is not to be consumed.

There is no running by the pool.

Take the plastic off the popcorn before putting it in the microwave.

Keep hands and feet from under the mower.

Not to hold the wrong end of a chainsaw.

A bag of peanuts will contain PEANUTS!

Thought for the Week

A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. ~Herm Albright, quoted in Reader’s Digest, June 1995

http://www.quotegarden.com