A friend told me recently that he waves at every car he passes, even in town. And he attempts to make eye contact. That's very friendly of him I thought. I only wave at people I know- a single finger lifted off the steering wheel for an acquaintance, and a vigorous wave for a friend. My friend who waves at everyone gives them the full-palm Vulcan salute as seen on Star Trek.
I thought I should be more friendly like my friend. I won't do the Vulcan thing. It will be the single finger off the steering wheel. One benefit is that it will force me to keep my hands on the upper radius of the wheel as truckers recommend and not in the slouch position at the bottom of the wheel. I'll have to work on the eye contact thing. But eye contact is necessary if my recipient is going to feel like I care. In the past when someone waves at me, whether friend or stranger, I never have time to get my hand up to respond. I feel bad about that. I hope they notice my nod of acknowledgement in their rear view mirror.
Waving to everyone is acceptable in a place like Roseau County where the population density is 9.3 people per square mile (for comparison the population density of the Twin Cities is 3,400 per square mile). Even here it might feel silly to wave at everyone when the snowmobile or the window factory is changing shifts and there's a constant stream of traffic.
Deciding when, where, and who to wave at is like deciding who to greet when climbing a mountain. At the base there's lots of people ascending and descending. You may nod, but as the crowd thins out further up, you say hi, or even stop and exchange information about conditions at the top.
My friend though gives his Vulcan wave even in town, with eye contact. He assumes people are ok with that, but many of them must ask themselves, Do I know that guy from somewhere? Maybe a few minutes later they run into my friend in Produce at the grocery store. They chat awhile and as they go their separate ways, they salute their new acquaintanceship.
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| Live long and prosper. |
Dif-tor heh smusma.
ReplyDeleteI love your friend! What a friendly guy.
ReplyDeleteThey're likely thinkin' that's Chairman Joe with his Star Trek mask on; you know he's got a 4th finger missing. Yeah, heard tell he lost it on the Amazon, to piranhas. That's what I heard. He was sittin' in a boat, with either his left or right hand in the water, you know just a dreamin' of someday marryin' a northwest Minnesota beauty and movin' to her homestead in the woods along a river, and having a slew of kids with her -- maybe a dozen, when POW! A bunch of piranha's snagged his hand and chewed his 4th finger right off to the knuckle bone in an instant! And he took that as a sign that they'd likely have only three kids --all boys, one a thumb; one a pointer, and one a middle finger. Who'd a thought it'd come true? (That'd he'd marry a beauty.) So it is, to this day, (any day) he waves his classic Minnesota One-Finger-Wave, all of us knowing which finger it ain't.
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