Snowy Sidewalks and Kindness

 

I’m walking to class bundled up like Ralphie’s brother from A Christmas Story in an attempt not to freeze to death before I make it to campus.  In my periphery, I notice that someone is approaching on the sidewalk; it is another college student who is also trying to fend off Mother Nature’s bitter cold.  As they near, I look at them and automatically give a warm smile.  They glance up and we make eye-contact for .25 of a second.  I hope and, well, kind of expect them as fellow human beings to respect the rules of courtesy and return my smile or even possibly utter a “hello” or even a “how are you doing?”.  My expectations are suddenly smashed up into tiny little fragments as the person quickly returns to staring at the sidewalk, as if mesmerized by the yards of grey concrete, and their face remains expressionless.  I’m left feeling awkward for even smiling in the first place, and I continue my stroll to campus with a feeling of peevishness.

Perhaps, if this didn’t happen very often, I wouldn’t be as annoyed as I am about people’s lack of courtesy.  I completely understand if someone is having a bad day, or they are just completely oblivious—that is forgivable.  However, this literally happens to me on a daily basis with at least 85% (if not more) of the college students I walk past.

Of course, I walk past other, older people who are not college students; however, the majority of these people seem to always greet me with a “hello”, “good morning”, “how are you today?”, or at the very least they allow their mouth to arc upwards for a few seconds. 

So, why don’t college students have enough courtesy to greet people who they walk past on the sidewalk? 

As trivial as this might seem, this simple gesture of kindness makes a huge impact.  For me, it reassures myself that people are not all scumbags and that there is still a bright outlook for humanity. 

Moral of this story?  If you are a human being (which, I’m just going to automatically assume you are if you are reading this), then take a few seconds out of your day to smile at someone you walk past, open the door for someone, and just generally be a polite and compassionate person.  This world can suck sometimes, so the least you can do is try to make the best of it and perhaps make it suck a little less for the people you come in contact with on a daily basis. 

If being a generally good person is not reason enough to be courteous to the strangers you walk past, then perhaps you desire a scientific reason.  When you smile the neurotransmitter activity in your brain increases and dopamine is released.  Dopamine is responsible for giving us feelings of pleasure and euphoria, and is the same neurotransmitter released when one partakes in drugs (like cocaine).  This increase in dopamine in turn lowers stress levels and makes you feel really good.   Smiling also actually uses less energy and facial muscles than frowning.  So, at the very, very least, be selfish and just smile at people so you can get high off of neurotransmitters.

If you would rather have a clear conscious and not be egocentric, be nice to people, whether you are walking by them on a sidewalk or just in general, just for the sake of being nice.  In conclusion, I am going to end in a quote from H. Jackson Brown Jr.—corny, I know, but true nonetheless.

 “Today, give a stranger one of your smiles.  It might be the only sunshine he sees all day.”