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What Happened to Kind People?
The other day, I wrote an article about Finding a Nice Guy in the 21st century, but that was an article about relationships. This is much simpler. And it bothers me more.
Years back, I used to live in San Francisco, and over about ten years, I lived in various locations there, like the Mission Street District, the Financial District and the Civic Center area. Those areas had both their pros and their cons (like the Mission Street District had all sorts of fun and diversity, while the Civic Center had its homeless people and crime). But one thing each one of those districts had going for them was I would walk down the street, and random people would say hello to me. A complete stranger would ask me how my day was going. And some of them even seemed to care.
When I moved to Michigan, I discovered the same thing. The accents might be a bit different, but people waved to me. Others said hello or “how’s your day going?” People were friendly. Sure, there was the ocassional annoying person, but that was rare. People were good and they acted that way.
Years later, I moved to Texas. When I first drove into a gas station to the north of Texas, a random stranger talked me up and we had a good and friendly conversation. That was the first person I came into contact with in Texas.