Engage Me

The other day I woke up in a terrific mood.  I've been arm wrestling with a cold for around a week, but for some reason it was a great day.  While out running errands to the bank, grocery, etc...something came over me.  A sense of goodwill.  Call it holiday cheer...maybe the sun was actually shining or something for a change.  Now, I consider myself a social person who doesn't shy away from a conversation, but usually I live in a little bubble like most.  Concerned and preoccupied with my own day to day to do list.  On this particular afternoon I was chatting up everyone within earshot. 

FOR EXAMPLE:

SCENERIO ONE - Traffic was unusually slow on a main strip through town.  I was behind an Altima for about 4 blocks and her license plate read:  1 DIVA   That was funny to me and I wondered if she was someone with a sense of humor or a real life diva with bitchy tendencies.  It turned out that she found a parking spot and pulled in while I was still sitting in traffic waiting for the light to turn.  Rolling down my window I hollered, "Nice license plate!"  A cute woman in her mid 50's came over laughing and replied, "Yeah, good one huh?  Some people take it seriously though and think I'm a bitch.  It's funny right?"  I agreed with her, the light changed and we both went our seperate ways smiling.  A simple little episode occured, but with it came a fun sense of connectedness with a stranger. 

SCENERIO TWO - It was a weekend so my bank was closed.  A deposit needed to go in, but I'm not a huge fan of ATM's.  Not sure why.  Maybe it's stuffing my money into an envelope and sending it to no man's land instead of a breathing persons hand is unnerving to me.  Plus, I worry about a random passerby junkie that might need cash and spies me with a handful of it.  So I'm at the machine going step by step...really slow to make sure I don't screw it up.  There is an adorable asian girl in her 20's behind me waiting patiently.  I turn around..."sorry, I'm an ATM cash deposit newbie....it freaks me out."  She laughed and said, "OMG...I totally know what you mean!  My first time I was scared to death!!"  So we chatted up a storm about our fear of sending hard earned cash into the abyss.  Again, we walked away with smiles and wished each other a great weekend.

So, my point is that we all need to engage a little more.  Smile at each other.  Practice better driving habits.  Slow down to let people in, wave a thank you when someone does it for you, flash your lights to let a car go before you or a person using the crosswalk.  Let that person behind you with the 2 items skip ahead of you and your full cart.  Realize that everyone you pass, drive by, wait in a line with, etc has their own story.  Their own problems and joys and fears and dreams just like you do.  I get worried that with the rate of technology improving...we're all going to be lost. 

Lost in our machines.
Lost in our gadgets.
Lost in our minds and oblivious to others.

I hope not.