Holidaze

So.....HELLO......There's an article in the December Reader's Digest called Hello Everybody. It is about a man who greeted everybody in his path for a month with a hello or by waving and smiling. He cites 11 things you can learn from one small change.Good article and I won't drone on with the details, yet I ask you to read it and perhaps practice it. I have been practicing it all my life as I am a friendly kind of guy, regardless of the fronts I build and masks I wear. Those of you who know me intimately, know that I am a kind man. Those who don't are terrified of me and think I'm a prick. I am both.

Yesterday I waved at a driver. She was in the turn lane banging her hands on the steering wheel and yelling through the windshield what appeared to be bad words. I stopped and waved and let her turn into her asphalt ramp into shopper's blissland. She looked at me sideways like I was up to something as the driver in the car behind me started banging her hands on the steering wheel. It was like I transferred the first woman's load into the woman behind me. I waved at the woman behind me and she flipped me off. I started laughing and shaking my head as it was so ridiculous, which made her flip harder for emphasis. I laughed harder and waved as she went by in the other lane spewing what I'm sure were bad words. I don't think she could have been sitting any farther forward on the seat of her SUV as she was screaming SOB. Better her than me.

I pulled into a video store to rent Dark Knight, which saw in the theater a few months ago. I walked in saying hello to the clerks, who in turn said hello. I said hello to a customer who was scanning the shelves nearby, and she mumbled hello without a glance in my direction, an automatic response. As I could sit and watch people all day for entertainment, and I sometimes do, I am having fun with this. Especially that most people act like they have never heard the word hello before. I judge that they are waiting for a sales pitch or a spare change comment. Granted I have long hair, but I dress well and look halfway successful. Perhaps I might ask for change for a nickel.

Loon

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If I can get through the day without condemning, criticizing or complaining, it's been a good day. If I don't give advice, it's been perfect. - Flloyd Ashcraft