Can You Hear Me Now?

Day 276

I went for a run today. Well, more of a walk, with a few running steps thrown in here and there. It was a beautiful day, nearly 50 degrees, and nothing but sunshine. I passed one house where a man was in his yard, looking at I'm not exactly sure what, but it seemed like a snow pile to me. He was quite engrossed in whatever it was, so he didn't notice me until I was right next to him.

I turned off my ipod and took the ear buds out to say hello, stopping briefly to chat about what an amazingly perfect day it was. The man was quite friendly, and agreed wholeheartedly about the nature of the day. I said “Happy New Year” and was on my way.

So where is the act of kindness in the rather mundane exchange? Surely I'm not resorting to counting a cheerful hello as fulfilling my daily commitment to kindness. No, my deed for the day was taking out my ear phones to talk. In this age of cell phones, ipods, blue-tooth ear pieces and whatever else, it is often hard to know when or if someone is giving you their full attention. I was mindful of this, and wanted to make sure the man wasn't wondering if I was listening to music while we were talking.

Sometimes I miss the way it was “back in the day” before everyone had a gadget as an additional appendage, and you didn't have to wonder or ask “Can you hear me now?”