Social Interaction

The other day was one of those days where I biked into town. A lovely, casual little biking excursion. It seems the only way I'm able to convince myself to bike is if I have errands, but it always turns out nice. It's an adventure.

One of the nice things about biking is that you're able to speak yet at the same time the interaction can only be brief. You can smile at people, say hello... except most of the time I just bike by. At the beginning of the ride, I just biked past whoever I passed, no matter what. That made me wonder something: Why are we so afraid of what strangers think of us? So I decided to smile at other people I passed. For the most part however, the smile was not returned. Huh. There were the few other people that gave me the nod though. You know the "respect" nod.

My whole idea of social interaction continued as I unlocked my bike outside of the library. While I was doing that, a guy walks past me. He greets me with a hello, and I nervously say hello back. Then he asks how I am, I tell him, and he wanders off. After hearing him speak, I could tell he might of had a mental disability but it made me think. Why are we so afraid of a casual greeting from a stranger? I instantly knew why though. It's because almost every time we're greeted, we're about to be sold something. Whether it be an actual product, or someone trying to get into our pants, a greeting is almost never just a greeting. How sad is that?

Then again, this might just be personal experience. This may also be my social awkwardness, but that's a story for another day.

I've been having trouble getting posts written, have you been able to tell? Thought you might. It's not so much for the lack of ideas, rather it's more that I can't concentrate on writing. All summer, I haven't really sat at a desk when using my computer, so it's harder for me to actually think writing when I'm not at a desk.

We've been painting the house for the last few days, and the main experience that I've learned from this summer is that I'm pretty sure I never want a big house. Ever. Way too much maintenance.

How do you interact with strangers? Are you friendly or do you keep to yourself?