Thank you for your words — they will be remembered for a long time
Dear friends, it has been a while since I wrote an uplifting column. A while since I wrote about the good we can do to each other, especially those we have never met and most likely will never see again.
Things that happen in these crazy days of make-up facts, loud meaningless noises, and in general, moments when we cannot explain anything that is around us. Because we are rocked by the unexpected, the ugly, the unreasonable — when total strangers happen to exchange niceties — it becomes a true, happy event. In reality, it happens every day, everywhere, but we are so inured to spontaneity that most times it is totally ignored. By sheer chance, a few exchanged words, a few smiles, somehow something that someone says leaves a lasting impression on somebody else.
And I am not talking of electronic communication; I am not talking of social media, the great facilitator of bringing people together or separating them miserably. I am talking of a fortuitous meeting that simply brought smiles and good, warm feelings to three people. Why is this so difficult today? Why is making other people feel well so odd? Maybe the answer lies in the fact that social discourse has changed so much that today we scream to each other to be heard. Today, human dialogue is restricted to a tiny little contraption that is a tool of good and evil. Today, we do not look to each other in the face when we talk, we simply communicate electronically without the warmth of holding a hand or looking to our listener in the eyes.
Well here goes a totally inane story about something that happened for simply a couple of minutes, but I will remember for a long time and I hope it brings a smile to your faces.
Recently, I was in one of the local supermarkets waiting to check out my groceries. By coincidence, the cashier was someone I knew (I have been shopping locally for a number of years, so it is no coincidence when people sort of know you). The cashier and I began to exchange pleasantries about the gorgeous weather, about food — at which point I complained (always nicely, civilly and with a smile) that lately, twice by the time I got home, I had broken eggs. Without a moment’s hesitation the cashier told me that she was not charging me this time for my six fresh eggs. Of course, more smiles, more “thank yous” and I left further convinced at how nice the staff in that supermarket was. All this exchange had been witnessed by a young woman who was waiting (patiently) next in line to pay for her groceries.
So, what happened next gives the title to this short story. As I am walking to my car the young woman (she could easily have been my daughter or maybe even my granddaughter) who was waiting in line after me, stops me and tells me that she is very impressed at how cool I am and that she only hopes that when she gets to be old she will be like me! It takes a lot to silence me but I was dumbfounded while at the same time totally pleased by what she said. All I told her was to be open to people no matter where or who they are and that we must never forget to laugh at ourselves. We are our best source for jokes.
I got home with a huge smile on my face and I was also very happy. For a while I did not feel my achy arthritic bones. I was cool and nice, and it was a total stranger who had said that to me. If the woman who told me what she did happens to read this column, I hope you will continue to be nice and to bring smiles to people’s faces, especially us old fogies. Being old is hard enough, but to be recognized as an inspiration is better than a hundred (very expensive) meds. So, my dear unknown friend, thank you for your words!
Klenicki is a Taos resident and former columnist for “El Crepúsculo” in The Taos News.
