Falling back to last week’s blog to finish my thoughts. Alistair Begg, from London School of Theology, spoke about how we can tell a lot about someone by their ‘hellos and goodbyes’. I think he’s on to something.
He boldly declared, ‘You want to be different? Be different with your hellos and goodbyes.”
I’m a hugger. If I know you, I will probably hug you on ‘in and the out’ – – the ‘coming and the going’. I enjoy welcoming people. Especially if I haven’t seen you in awhile and you are coming into my home. And of course, in the right situation. You can’t hug everyone you see at a concert or an event. You get my point.
I also like a ‘proper’ goodbye. Sometimes I’ll walk my son’s friends up their car and say goodbye to them with their parents. I like to hug people goodbye. I don’t like to be on the phone when people leave. I’m just like that. Call me old school, old fashioned, I don’t care.
I’ve tired of the impolite these days. And not sorry for writing that publicly.
I’ve known people that upon seeing them, the first thing they do, even before saying hello or looking in the eye, is they complain about the traffic, Uber, anything but a proper positive hello. Yes, we all have bad days and can always find ‘something’ to complain about, but if you’re a constant complainer on the arrival, you may want to reflect a bit.
Begg goes on to describe goodbyes. Many of you already know this, but the root of our current ‘Goodbye’ is godbwye (‘god-b-w-ye’ circa 1570s). We are literally telling others upon departure, “May God be with you” as we never know if or when we will see them again.
Begg is correct. There is the last parking space reversal out of the lot. The last wave to someone. The last door closed on the way out. The last phone call. The last note received. It happens to us all.
There IS a final goodbye for everyone in your life right now. I’ve already had several.
How are your hellos and goodbyes doing?
Goodbye for today…
C. Nor.
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