David Atwood

I and my family traveled for three years aboard our sailboat and were somewhat removed from “normal” society. We got to know a lot of people in a different context. It was a good time in which we learned much. What I experienced when we came back ashore surprised me.

In three years, things had changed. It should, all things do, but the changes were disconcerting. People had become more introverted; they kept to themselves, didn’t speak on the streets, or talk in stores. It made me sad. I am not a particularly gregarious person, but when I initiate a conversation, I expect the person to whom I am speaking to respond.

At first I thought it was being in a new place. I had visited, but never lived here, then, as business and other travel took me outside the state, and even to previous areas where we had resided, I began to see the same thing; people aren’t involved in each others lives any more. We have grown to be islands unto ourselves with the current of life roaring by us as we ignore the other islands.

People’s lives have become so busy that they do not have time for others. Life, in the three years traveling, had gotten much more demanding and moved at a pace that frightened me. People are too busy surviving to look after others. Few take the time to bake a pie for a neighbor, or go to visit, or even to take a few minutes and discuss something in a store with a well meaning stranger. I want to change my part of this and I have found a way.

I have known the destructive power of words since childhood, but the opposite is true as well; words can be constructive. They can build up, lift higher, make people stronger, and they cost nothing. I determined to use this power. I will speak positive words into others lives.

It’s easy to do with people you associate with or know well. You can see a new hair style, a new tie, weight loss, that sort of thing, and compliment them. It brightens their day beyond measure because they too are victims of our closing society and whenever anyone notices anyone else and speaks these positive words, you’ve made their day. That’s my goal; to make someone’s day every day.

It can be just as easy with strangers if you are looking. You see someone wearing a clever shirt, remark to him or her about it; someone looking lost, offer to help. It could be as simple as a smile to an approaching stranger and an added “Good day”, or a “Howdy”. What you are really saying is, “Hey, I noticed you, you matter”. That makes anyone’s day.

In our hurry up and get it done, get by, get home lives, take a moment to speak positive words into someone else’s life. You will both be the better for it, and; like any mixing with a group of people, it’s contagious.