It can be surprising what a word or two can do. Saying Hi or "Nice to see you" may seem rather empty but the effects can be surprising. If you say Hi to your neighbor every day, it is only natural for a slight change in the words or the subject to happen sometime. Then, you hear about the bright kid or the new camera. Even if you stay with a very repetitive greeting, your voice tone, your smile and your timing can show that you like the person and are likeable yourself.
An old friend might point to a time long ago: "Remember that game we lost 18 to 0?" and suddenly you are thinking about how you were, he was, the world was and the world is. "What have you been reading?" "Where have you been traveling?" What is your next trip? What is your take on Donald Trump?
I attended a presentation on Hallmark Cards a few months ago. A young man, from Minnesota I believe, took two shoeboxes of postcards and sold them on the streets of Kansas City in 1910. Mailing a letter or a note of condolence was already a custom but the modern birthday card or commencement congratulations was just coming into practice. That company and many others know plenty about doing business with people's greetings and keepings-in-touch. Plus the American inventions of Mother's Day, Father's Day and such holidays as National Pickle Month make it very possible to contact an old friend or a new acquaintance with a card, an ecard, an ebook, a link to a download of a song or a audiobook.
The rest of the world can snicker at our artificial "holidays" and semi-commercial hooplas but the pickle farmers aren't laughing. It's not just us, though. We woke one morning in Barcelona to men dangling from the trees outside the hotel. It was St. George Day and the fire department was showing its stuff with ropes and climbing while tables below the trees were full of people selling books and flowers. The custom is to honor someone you love with a book and a rose on St. George's Day.
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