Being Nice

I have been around a lot of places in the world. There are two places where I was shocked at the friendliness of strangers--Portland, Oregon and Canada. As a newly married person, I planned two days and two nights in downtown Portland as part of our honeymoon. Megan and I spent a lot of time walking around and seeing my new wife's hometown. We would be talking to each other and a a random person walking near us would hear our conversation and comment on it. Crazy! So many people came up and talked to us, asked us questions, etc. I've learned this is normal in Portland.

Canadians are always known for being nice almost to a fault. Americans love making fun of Canadians and I feel bad because Canadians are so dang nice that it seems unfair. Plus, Canadians haven't done anything bad to us (other than Sidney Crosby scoring in OT!!!). We get tons of oil from them and I hear their retirees are propping up the Phoenix real estate market, too. Dang exchange rate, but you can't blame them for it.

Megan and I had just landed at Toronto's airport late at night. We were a little nervous being in a new place (and a foreign country). Things were a lot different than we expected. We boarded the bus for our hotel and sat next to some locals who were quick to talk to us. They pointed out Tim Hortons, a Canadian coffee shop. They said, "You know Tim Hortons, he played in the NHL." Megan and I looked at each other confused and laughed to ourselves, I guess they don't realize that while most NHL teams are in the US most Americans don't care or know much about hockey. Regardless, Megan and I love Tim Hortons and think back to that day in July when we found out about it whenever we eat their chicken salad sandwiches.

The point of this post is that being around nice people is always cause for being happy. Often, I walk around and try to help people and smile and all that but often I get ignored or frowny faces or "Why are you talking to me?" looks. Wow people, lighten up. Shouldn't Mormons be a part of this extremely nice group? I think that many of us play the role we are assigned at church. We only talk to people affected by our calling, only talk to our home teachees/visit teachees, etc. Don't dare step out of that circle! Someone is having a hard time? Well, I haven't be assigned to help, so I don't want people to think I'm taking charge without Priesthood authority, etc. Guess what? It doesn't take a calling or the Priesthood to be nice or helpful. It takes a few words or a smile or a visit.

So when I see you (meaning anyone in the whole wide world) approaching me on the sidewalk, you better smile and look at me in the eyes! When I see you in the laundry room, smile!

Does this make sense?