On greeting people with a Hello

Over the last week, my mind has been occupied with how people greet, meet or like (and unlike) each other.  It doesn’t matter what is the relationship between the concerned people is.  They can be mother and son,  two friends, or colleagues, even class mates, ship mates, a senior officer to a junior, a man and woman, uncle and nephew or a master to servant or just two people who live nearby - neighbours.  It doesn’t matter who the two persons in question are.

What matters is how one of the people mentioned above wishes, likes to greet the other.  There are people -

• whom you cannot wait till the morning to meet;  you just go out in the night to keep looking at or talking to,
• for whom you wait for the morn with eager,
• whom you wish to see, sight or hear as early as possible,
• whom you wouldn’t mind coming across in the day,
• whom you would try to avoid in the morning, day or evening, and
• whom you wish never, ever appear in your life ever.

For a large number of people, I’ve slipped from the first 2 places.  For almost everyone I’m in the middle 2 phases.  After the colourful life I’ve had, count exactly 2 who’d treat me in the 5th category. 

And exactly one who doesn’t want to see me - the man would either run away in terror or try to kill me on sight.

I’ve been so fortunate because whenever a problem occurs, especially when they are of personal - meaning person to person related - I always put myself in both the positions, that is, think from both sides of argument or differences, and try to arrive at a solution. 

With that attitude in life, I’ve -

• exactly 1 in the first category,
• dozens in the next two,
• scores who are in the 4th,
• exactly 2 (not the terror/killer guy, but a neighbour man and wife) who I try to avoid like plague, and
• none in the last.

Events over the last few days have made be think about these relationships.  This is the first time I’ve tried to categorize the perceived relationship or friendliness like this.  Because someone made a comment yesterday ‘when you see someone, you should feel eager to talk to them’ and not feel like ‘OMG! I’ve no other way out, but to talk to them.’

In all my years, I haven’t heard a truer word spoken.  While I don’t want to be loved and hailed by everyone, I would positively abhor the day when people try to avoid me like plague.

As said above, I always try to put myself through the other side.  If people do try to avoid me, what does it say about my goodness?  I mean, how ‘mean’, cheap, selfish, uncouth, uncaring, flimsy, rotten, evil should one be, if people would prefer not to meet them any day, for ever?

But if that is the criteria I’ve to adopt, I see another 4 or 5 who’d qualify.
LOL

I think I’d take rather take Pete!

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