Post-Graduate Discoveries, Installment 1: Just say hello

Well, I have been out in the Real World for a little more than a week, officially, and have been making numerous discoveries.  I thought about putting all of them into a single post, but then I realized that it would be a very long post.  So I decided to start a series.  This is hereby the first installment in my post-graduate discoveries series, entitled "Just say hello."  Not all of my posts will be about graduate school, more generic discoveries about the Real World, but this one has a grad school element.  :)

So I have apparently been living in a safe, little bubble for the past four years.  A bubble known as Lexington, Virginia.  A bubble where people greet you in the grocery store parking lot, walking down Main Street, and waiting in line for the ATM.  A bubble where I can chat with my grocer, bank teller, or cafe server because that's just the way the town is.  People talk to each other, even if they've never met.  Of course, chances are, you've seen each other in the past.  It's not that big of a town.

The point is, I've gotten used to saying hi to people and being greeted in return.  Apparently the Real World is not like this.  Who knew?  Now, I'm not completely naive.  I am from Northern Virginia and the Silicon Valley, after all.  I had always lived in metropolitan areas before I moved to my safe, little bubble nestled in the Shenandoah Valley.  This discovery is not one that shocks me, but it IS one that saddens me.

Why?  Because it's nice to get a smile and a hello when I'm walking from my classroom to get coffee with a friend.  Having a brief conversation with the person who is selling me my lunch or helping me make a deposit warms my heart and gives me a little lift to my spirits.  I really think that if people would just smile at each other and say hello, there would be fewer crimes.  I really do.  I remember conducting an informal experiment of my own when I was working at a recreational center as the front desk person just smiling and greeting people all day and watching how their entire demeaner changed.

W&L has a speaking tradition, and I love it.  I wish that there was a speaking tradition everywhere.  For my part, I'm greeting people when I walk by them anyway.  ;)  So my encouragement to you, dear readers, is to be a rebel.  Just say hello, and make someone's day.