Scenario:
I'm at the park, walking my dog, and I see a group of disabled people on an outing. They are all smiling. They are happy. They smile at me, and smile at my dog. And one woman steps forward and asks "May I pet your dog?". She's so very polite and I tell her yes he's friendly but he might jump but don't be frightened he loves to give kisses. And she reaches down, gently, and he embraces her. And he kisses her as if she's the most perfect wonderful person he has ever met. And this is basically how he greets everyone. And she tells me he is handsome, and she tells me she likes my hair, and I tell her I love her bright colored sneakers. And she says thank you and I tell her to have a wonderful day. And we part ways. I know I was smiling. My dog was smiling. She was clearly smiling the whole time.
I wish everyone had more interactions like this.
#1- Smiles for days. SMILES. FOR. DAYS. I said to my husband this weekend "Do I have anything in my teeth? You know how I like to smile".
#2- What great manners- how polite was she?! She ASKED to pet my dog. So many children don't ask to pet the dog. They rush up to him, scare him, pet him aggressively, don't listen when you tell them to be gentle. Most children frighten my dog because most children are not attentive to his feelings.
#3- What an interaction. What a non-judgmental interaction between two creatures. My dog doesn't care what color she is, what gender, what mental ability, what race, what creed. He knows one thing- kindness. He knows a kind person when he sees one. He knows good intentions. He knows a good heart. That is what he bases his reaction on. A smiling face and open arms warrants a wagging tail and kisses. BEAUTIFUL.
#4- Compliments. In a world of lots of wrongs, find something right. In a world full of negative, find something positive. She liked my hair, I liked her shoes. She practically danced when I told her.
When someone says something nice, we often have the urge to answer negatively-- "oh you've lost weight!"... "not enough" or "still working on it". "oh your hair looks great" "really? It's been weeks but thanks" "Oh you look nice in that color" "yes well it's not my signature color but it works"
If we complimented people more instead of finding things wrong with them, or we pointed out something we DO like instead of all the things we don't... people might be a little nicer to each other.
"I don't like your attitude or tone of voice, but boy do you have pretty eyes/hair/nice shirt"- might diffuse a situation.
And yes, some people may be so far from this notion of nice gestures that they may just turn even more negative ("ew are you flirting with me??") but just ignore. You can say what you want and people are going to react how THEY want to. That's life. Doesn't mean you should filter yourself because someone may misconstrue your intentions. Maybe just re-iterate your intentions for those ignorant a$$holes and naysayers you come across.
Let's show people that they matter. Let's lift each other up. Let's smile when the whole world wants to frown. We are the change... BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.
I'm at the park, walking my dog, and I see a group of disabled people on an outing. They are all smiling. They are happy. They smile at me, and smile at my dog. And one woman steps forward and asks "May I pet your dog?". She's so very polite and I tell her yes he's friendly but he might jump but don't be frightened he loves to give kisses. And she reaches down, gently, and he embraces her. And he kisses her as if she's the most perfect wonderful person he has ever met. And this is basically how he greets everyone. And she tells me he is handsome, and she tells me she likes my hair, and I tell her I love her bright colored sneakers. And she says thank you and I tell her to have a wonderful day. And we part ways. I know I was smiling. My dog was smiling. She was clearly smiling the whole time.
I wish everyone had more interactions like this.
#1- Smiles for days. SMILES. FOR. DAYS. I said to my husband this weekend "Do I have anything in my teeth? You know how I like to smile".
#2- What great manners- how polite was she?! She ASKED to pet my dog. So many children don't ask to pet the dog. They rush up to him, scare him, pet him aggressively, don't listen when you tell them to be gentle. Most children frighten my dog because most children are not attentive to his feelings.
#3- What an interaction. What a non-judgmental interaction between two creatures. My dog doesn't care what color she is, what gender, what mental ability, what race, what creed. He knows one thing- kindness. He knows a kind person when he sees one. He knows good intentions. He knows a good heart. That is what he bases his reaction on. A smiling face and open arms warrants a wagging tail and kisses. BEAUTIFUL.
#4- Compliments. In a world of lots of wrongs, find something right. In a world full of negative, find something positive. She liked my hair, I liked her shoes. She practically danced when I told her.
When someone says something nice, we often have the urge to answer negatively-- "oh you've lost weight!"... "not enough" or "still working on it". "oh your hair looks great" "really? It's been weeks but thanks" "Oh you look nice in that color" "yes well it's not my signature color but it works"
If we complimented people more instead of finding things wrong with them, or we pointed out something we DO like instead of all the things we don't... people might be a little nicer to each other.
"I don't like your attitude or tone of voice, but boy do you have pretty eyes/hair/nice shirt"- might diffuse a situation.
And yes, some people may be so far from this notion of nice gestures that they may just turn even more negative ("ew are you flirting with me??") but just ignore. You can say what you want and people are going to react how THEY want to. That's life. Doesn't mean you should filter yourself because someone may misconstrue your intentions. Maybe just re-iterate your intentions for those ignorant a$$holes and naysayers you come across.
Let's show people that they matter. Let's lift each other up. Let's smile when the whole world wants to frown. We are the change... BE THE CHANGE YOU WANT TO SEE IN THE WORLD.
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