The Skyliner

Issue date: 11/15/06 Section: Opinion

Monique Quarles

Have you ever been greeted by someone walking across campus but weren't given enough time to reply? Or have you ever been walking with someone else and been overlooked during a greeting?

Lately, I have approached individuals who greet me and ask how I have been doing, but continue walking before I can reply. Call me old fashioned, but if someone is going to ask another person how they're doing, then that person can at least be given a few seconds to respond.

What's the point of asking someone how he or she is doing if you do not care to know?

Most people would respond by saying that many people are in a hurry to get to multiple destinations and have no time to wait on a response. If the reason is that people are in a hurry, then why not just say hello, instead of adding a question onto the greeting. Asking someone about their well being and leaving them no time for a response makes it seem as though that person didn't really care at all.

Then on the other hand, I have walked across the campus with another individual or group of people, and someone came along and greeted only one person while the rest have nothing said to them at all. Once more, call me old fashioned, but that can and has been taken as rude behavior.

I was always raised that when greeting people in a group, to greet them all and not just one. I believe that when we approach two people or a group of people we should always acknowledge everyone and not just an individual. It's seems to me that it would be just as fast to say hello to everyone, as it would be to single out one person from the group.

I have even experienced situations where a person sat down at the table with a group of people and only acknowledged one person out of the entire group. It doesn't take long periods of time to exchange greetings with everyone within a group. All it takes is an acknowledgement of everyone there in the group.

It's time to slow things down a little. Just long enough to actually acknowledge that we're not the only busy people in the world, and a greeting doesn't consume all of our time. Besides, we never know whose day we may have blessed just by giving a greeting.

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