Grumpy man
makes his rounds every day.
A cheerful "bonjour', I always say.
Make him smile? Tomorrow
it just may.
Yes, I can be that guy. That annoyingly cheerful person who just doesn't know how to shut up. I imagine this one man thinking that of me. I see him daily in the park. He's one of the people that walks a few rounds every day. He always has a bit of a stern look, that seems to tighten when he sees me. Because I always throw him a cheerful "bonjour".
With most of the people in this park, that works pretty well. Especially the daily park people. We recognise eachother, greet eachother and then go on our own merry ways. Sometimes there's a short chat. Or a mutual "How are you? I'm fine". Not with this man. He hardly moves in recognition of the greeting.
Maybe one day, he will give a cheerful hello back. What do you think?
The poem above is a triptriplicata, a form I created a few years ago.
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A simple cheerful bonjour may be a little thing, but it can make a big difference. All little things can. Just give someone a bit of your time, a bit of your attention, and see what happens. I saww Joshua Coombes speak this week, and his message #dosomethingfornothing certainly struck a chord with me. Small acts of kindness, seeing people, having empathy. It matters.
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the grumpy man reminds me of how i was in the late 90's. i was working at my first job, and people kept telling me 'good morning' in the office, which i always ignored. after a few years i mellowed out - i'm not sure why. before the job i used to be much more friendly, which stemmed from watching someone say 'thank you' to the bus driver when i was a college student, which no one else was doing. so i started doing it, and it was great to see the driver smile. years later i was grumpy, as mentioned; and then i flipped back to friendly. who knows how these things work?