[2021-08-16] G'day
Many years ago, when I was single and just starting out in my career, I lived close enough to my office to walk to work every day. I tended to meet the same people at the same spot each morning. Some were accustomed to greeting strangers; others, not so much.
Having grown up in the country―where people really do say "g'day" and we wave to anyone who toots their horn as they speed past the farm―it seemed odd to me that I wouldn't say hello to someone I passed every morning, just a few feet away.
So I implemented a system. First, I would glance at the other person when we got about five feet apart. If they glanced back, I would say hello. If they didn't, I would try again the next day. Eventually, even the shyest people would look at me, and I would seize the opening. Within a few months, I was saying hello to all the regulars (in addition to any new pedestrians who were open to it). Often, our "hello" evolved to include "how are you today?" as we started greeting each other from farther apart.
Now, more than 30 years later, I'm still using the same approach on my morning walks. Some people return my greeting with a hearty hello. Others smile. A few mumble a short reply. And some say nothing and just keep on walking.
I'm never discouraged. If I get a response at all, it's a bonus. It makes my day better and―I have no doubt―it improves the other person's day as well. "To change a life, you don't need to do anything grand," says executive coach Dananjaya Hettiarachchi. "Sometimes all you have to do is just say hello."
The other day, as I walked past a garden I've been ogling for months, I noticed a man nearby. I asked him whether the vegetable patch was his and admitted that I had been admiring his produce. He replied that it was, and we proceeded to have a conversation about his tomato plants. At one point, he asked whether I wanted some tomatoes. I politely declined, saying that I had some at home. But he sent me away with a tomato as a nice parting gift. It was such a pleasant exchange.
Similarly, a few months ago, while my sister and I were doing the second of my Beau's 5K for Ovarian Cancer Canada, we got talking to a woman about her flower garden. We spent about 15 minutes in front of her house chatting about this and that plant, followed by another 15 minutes behind her house as she invited us to tour her private garden. It was such a lovely way to while away the afternoon.
The older I get, the more likely I am to say hello to complete strangers. As I see it, life's too short not to say g'day.
