17 Dec Casual Connecting
Marble is not alone in noticing a growing distance between people who are different from one another. She sees at the least a failure to acknowledge one another, and at worst muttering and frowning. And she knows from what she reads and hears in the news that muttering and frowning is not the worst.
Marble sees that some of this distancing isn’t even related to an event or action but is just the way people now seem to behave toward some others.
Like many, Marble frets about her role. She wonders what one person can do, if anything, to counter what seems to be a hateful trend. It feels out of control.
So Marble decides that what she can control is her own behavior, and off she goes to observe herself in her daily life.
At work she approaches a woman who is from another country with whom she’s exchanged only smiles for the past 6 months, and comments on the picture of a child soccer player on her desk. A brief conversation ensues.
Collecting her child at school she makes eye contact with a dad who she said is different from her in every way, and makes a comment about the school day. He grins and talks with her for a moment.
On the bus she gives her seat to a person who is marginally older than she, and doesn’t look away when she gets a smile and a comment in thanks.
At the corner store, she asks the attendant, to whom she has always said nothing but a quick thanks, if he’s had a busy day. Several sentences flow from the attendant and they share a laugh.
Do these overtures close the gap that is growing between people in the world? No – but maybe the casual connections of these 4 people will make it smaller.
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