I’d like to start a revolution in saying hello. A simple, hello.

Religious wars…I understand why you might fight for your god, as backwards and undeniably ludicrous as it is, I get it. Road rage…remotely conceivable. But, not saying “hello” to someone on the sidewalk? I just don’t understand it. It’s heart-breakingly baffling to me.

Maybe I didn’t get enough attention as a child, but I’m crestfallen when someone passes me on a neighbourhood sidewalk and doesn’t make eye contact with me. It makes me worry about the future of our world. I want to throw my hands in the air all Jesus-on-the-mount style and say,

“I’M human! YOU’RE human! For a brief moment in time we’re sharing the same patch of concrete. Please! Look me in the eye! I want to love you!”

But I don’t say that. I should. I really should. It’s the stuff of revolutions. Most revolutions look insane at the beginning.

So I go out of my way to say hello on the street. (It takes particular devotion to do this in New York city, but I try.) My man, he’s the salt-of-the-earth kind of man, and he’s a pro at cement civility. Where I just say “hi,” or “morning,” he goes full out and throws in a “good day,” or “afternoon to you.” It weirds people out, but the love gets through, I’m sure of it. When my guy gives his greetings, I give him that I’m-so-proud-to-be-with-hand-squeeze. Everybody wins.

I once wrote about the dignity of making eye contact specifically with homeless folks on the street. Some readers wrote to tell me I was promoting risking women’s safety and that “making eye contact with homeless people was dangerous.” Well, if you think so…then it probably is…to you. I think denying the existence of my fellow earthlings is much more perilous.

We can do it, people. We can…say…hello.

If you’re really serious about joining me in the revolution, then we’ll have to keep in mind that love often requires being the first, and being the “bigger” person. You may have to stretch to catch someone’s eye and find that small opening to greet them. You’ll have to risk being thought a perv or a lonely freak. You may have to bear that sad lack of reciprocity.

And you will risk being heartbroken by the fear in other people’s eyes, the people who don’t think they’re worthy of love. The people who are scared of other people. The people who need the Street Hello Love the most.

. . . . . . .

Photo courtesy of ellievanhoutte