In my time as a fast food worker I have learned that life becomes so much easier when you are nicer to those around you. If I mess up an order, or if the computer won't work, it is so much better to have an understanding and patient customer than an angry customer who can't even bother to smile. Of course, I know that everyone has their bad days. I definitely don't feel like smiling, or saying "have a great day!" every single time I complete an order. But I do. Because that smile, and that little saying could make someone's day a little better.
It is difficult to be friendly all the time, and nobody expects people to be happy all the time. It's impossible. Our mood changes constantly. We can go from happy to mad, or from calm to upset in seconds. We can't expect everyone to have a good day, every day. So when we come across someone who is clearly not having a good day all we can do is try to be as kind to them as possible.
I can't fix a stranger's problems. Most of the time, none of us can. But we can make their day a little bit better. A simple smile or a hello can improve a stranger's day, even if it's only minimally better. I know that I feel better when someone smiles at me, or tells me to have a good day.
As a society, we've shifted away from smiling at strangers. We avoid eye contact and we look down, whether at the floor or at our phones. I noticed that my sophomore year of high school. People had stopped smiling and saying hello to each other in the halls. Maybe that was just the culture of high school, but once I experience more of the world outside of high school I realized that this trend was becoming more and more common.
Why don't we smile at strangers anymore? Is is because we're afraid of looking weird? Are we afraid of seeming overly friendly? I still haven't figured it out. I won't say it's all about us having phones. The majority of people nowadays own a phone but are still social and friendly. Phones are not the problem. The problem is that we decided this isn't a problem.
Sure, in the big scheme of things, failing to make eye contact with a stranger and smile isn't going to make much of a difference. But maybe it isn't about making a big difference. Maybe it's about doing as many little good things and making as many tiny differences as possible.
As members of our society, whether from a group of 50 people or one billion people, we often find ourselves unable to make the big changes we want to. We might not have the financial or physical resources to carry out our plans. But what we can do, even if it doesn't seem like much to us, is to just be kind.
Smile at strangers. Ask your waiter how their day is going. Ask the fast food worker how they're doing. Say hello to someone walking by. It may not matter to you, but to someone else it may be the one thing that makes their day better.
We can't always help in the big ways we want to, but we can help in the ways that can make someone's day just a little bit better. And honestly, it's easier to be nicer to the people around you than to always be in a bad mood.
