As I walked around a corner I came across an old man standing at the end of his drive. When he saw me he held out his hand, offered me a flower and smiled. It was clearly a dandelion he had just pulled up from his immaculate path but nevertheless it was a wonderful gesture. I thanked him and went on my way with a 'spring in my step' as they say. Whoever 'they' are.
I practically skipped the rest of the way to uni and greeted everyone I passed with a smile or a 'Good afternoon!' if they looked friendly enough (a rare thing in this world it seems!)
I find the concept of 'friendliness' very interesting. You don't seem to be allowed to be friendly for no reason without being considered a complete weirdo. The South East of England seems to be a particularly unfriendly place sometimes. In the West Country it's OK to greet a stranger if you pass them in a park or relatively empty street. Here in the East, everyone keeps their head down and tries to pretend the other person doesn't exist. One little thing can have such an effect on the world that I think this is a shame. I know if someone I don't know says a cheerful 'Good afternoon' to me it makes me smile. In turn I might say it to the next person and so the happiness spreads.
Anyway, this all reminded me of a group called Join Me that I signed up to years ago in Sixth Form. Join Me, created by Danny Wallace (who, in fact, went to the same Sixth Form as me...not the same year though) is a group of people encouraged to break social barriers and actually dare to be nice to people! They undertake R.A.O.Ks (Random Acts Of Kindness) whenever they can whether it's something as simple as holding a door open for someone or doing things like hiding book vouchers in the pages of books in the library.
www.join-me.co.uk
I've decided to put more effort into being nice to the world again!
In other news, I saw my first bee of the year today. Yay!
I've seen at least 6 bees already and the dandelions here are rampant and bigger and yellower than usual.
ReplyDeleteI'm a say "morning", "afternoon" or even a short conversation kind of person myself. Wherever: shop checkout; in the street; on the train. I suppose I like social intercourse - but probably I like it more when it is for a restricted length of time. Or maybe I'm just wierd!
London and the tube in particular is definitely the worst place to try to be friendly. They really do look at you as though you were on the verge of committing some heinous offence if you pass the time of day.
I like the idea of RAOK I shall take it up - even more than i do already.
Oh yes, by the way, I am one of the "they" who say these things. So I'm delighted your step was springy and I hope it lasted all the way back up the hill.
Congratulations on you blog.
Mister
I promise I'm not going to be flooding your blog with comments - but......
ReplyDeleteI thought I would report a random act of kindness.
I went to the Tobacco Factory theatre in Bristol yesterday to see their production of Hamlet directed by Jonathan Miller. It was a fantastic production with Hamlet played by Jamie Ballard who was absolutely brilliant. Anyway.. when the play ended a tall young man sitting next to me asked if he could borrow my mobile to call a taxi as his was an Irish mobile and didn't work. So I let him use my mobile [he didn't run off with it so my continuing faith in human nature was unshaken]. But he couldn't get through on the phone. I asked where he was going and he said Clifton so I said I'd give him a lift up there [no big deal for me - 10 minutes in the car - but a long uphill walk of more than an hour for him]. We had a chat while I took him to where he was staying. He was over from Limerick doing an audition at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School.
I guess our paths may never cross again but it was a pleasure to help him out even in such a small way.
Mister