Blog #72 The Power of Hello

I moved to North Carolina for college and absolutely fell in love with the place. I attended Guilford College in Greensboro, North Carolina, and had a paradigm shift when I visited my friend in a small suburb outside Winston-Salem, NC. In the thriving metropolis of King, North Carolina, my friend Kevin pulled his car into his driveway turned it off, leaving the key in the ignition. I said, “Hey Kevin, you left the key in the ignition.” He looked at me and said, “I know.”  Confused, I asked, “why would you do that?” He answered without hesitation, “why wouldn’t I?”

This had a profound impact on me, and at that moment I wanted to live in a place where I could do that. Fast forward once again. I married my high school sweetheart & moved with my wife to the beautiful city of Milford, PA. Milford is a small town on the banks of the Delaware River, sitting on the border of New Jersey and New York. It’s a lovely town where people greet each other on the street and the traffic stops for pedestrians. I have fallen in love with this way of life, kindness, humanity, and just an overall slower pace.

I arrived in Boston last weekend for the 2019 National Principals Conference.  I was immediately excited about and could feel the energy of the city. I stayed within a mile of the convention center downtown and was reminded of the sheer awesomeness of Boston. I was also reminded of the busy people and once again, people looking down and/or not really greeting each other. This is not necessarily because people are rude, but it is just that there are so many people and so much happening that it’s almost impossible to say hello to everyone. I finally entered the conference center, where I was greeted by friendly smiles and hellos from fellow educators, all who are used to saying hello to people in their schools and hallways. They were greeting everyone that they met and were going out of their way to show kindness to all, including strangers. It was like two very different worlds. The one outside the convention center of hustling and bustling people and then inside the convention center also buzzing with energy yet also people sharing, networking, and greeting one another in a wonderful social setting.