Carry a Smile

With the snow and cold, we have been house bound for a bit. Today, the sun was out and the temperature was well above freezing and enough snow had melted that we took the opportunity to take a little walk in one of the nearby parks.

We passed one person walking with earbuds in but smiled at each other as we walked by. Said hi to a couple heading to do some fishing and to a guy walking his dog. It seems like a small thing but I happen to believe those little connections are important.

It could also be the region of the country I’m from where we tend to be nice. It was even a topic of conversation at work when I went to one of those manager meetings. That we were too nice at times and since we were a big giant global company, it tended to confuse people from other places. Seriously, this was the topic of conversation.

It is one of the reasons I hate the whole mask thing. Now, we never had a requirement to wear them outdoors – except at certain attractions. But they are still a requirement for indoor spaces and I think it changes the whole dynamic. You could sort of figure out someone is smiling behind the mask but I think we mostly just ignore each other and try to stay as far away as possible.

Well except for stores where I know the people working there and we can have conversations so there is still that. But no more of just random moments connecting with others for just a brief moment. Just a simple way of acknowledging someone’s existence which we all need from time to time.

The mask is of course a reminder of the whole virus thing and I think subconsciously it just signals that the other person is a potential danger. There are always consequences to actions and many times they are things you’d never anticipate or expect. We could spend our whole day online and only interact with people online or virtually and I’d hate to think that is where we are headed but maybe that can’t be stopped.

And I’m a big time introvert. I certainly don’t want to start up long conversations with random strangers because that’s not my thing. But a simple smile or hello just seems like the nice thing to do. The good news is the weather is warming and there will be more opportunities to get outside. It will be a good day when we can again go into places and see peoples faces and smiles rather than a sea of masks.