I'm Not Fooling Anyone Anyway

I had an experience today that proved to me that I'm not a New Yorker.

I was walking into Starbucks and the man that holds the door open for people in the hopes of getting some spare change out of the deal caught my eye.  My midwestern self instinctively smiled at him.  I then began to hurry through the door because I remembered that New Yorkers don't make eye contact and certainly don't smile.

The man started to say something and I tried to hurry faster because I didn't want to feel guilty about the fact that I wasn't going to give him money when he asked.

Then I heard what he said which was, "Keep smiling that pretty smile, sweetheart.  God bless."

And he didn't say it in a creepy way.  He said it in a genuine way.  

I was so surprised and oddly touched that I turned, smiled again, and said thank you, completely blowing my cover.  It struck me that it was the nicest thing anyone had said to me in a long time.  It was genuinely sweet. 

So I made a resolution, a Jan. 5 resolution.  I decided that every time I think something nice about someone I'm going to try to say it out loud.  Even if I'm just thinking that I like some stranger's shirt or if I'm thinking about someone far away and I have to call them to tell them.  I'm going to do it anyway because I think we all really need to hear nice things.

We spend much too much of our time in our relationships with other people trying to communicate all of our displeasure with them under the guise of "accountability" and not nearly enough time simply enjoying the people around us.

Oh, and I'm going to keep smiling at people.  I don't want to ignore them, and it's more pleasant anyway.

Don't worry, I haven't gone soft on you.  I'm still going to avoid the crazies on the subway like the plague and silently judge people who look snotty.  It's unavoidable.

Much Love.