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Don’t be afraid you can say hello

One-in-a-millionOne-in-a-million Posts: 606 Incredible Poster
in General Chat
so after a hard days work last week I got on the bus and just wanted to get home and chill. An elderly lady got on the bus and sat by me.

she was quite for a few minutes and Without thinking I said “Hi how are you?”
She seemed a bit timid when I spoke but it struck a conversation on pretty much everything the weather, how she went shopping, what I did for my job and pretty much just a random conversation about anything.

after a while she smiled and said something that was like a punch to the stomach “you are the only person I have spoken to this week thank you.”

I can’t tell you how much I had to fight back the tears. To hear anyone say they haven’t spoken to someone in god knows how long is heartbreaking! 

What’s even more sad is that fact she seemed frightened of me when I spoke. Has the majority of our generation become so ignorant that saying a simple “hello” scares the older generation?

to be honest a lot (not all) of what I see these day sometimes scares me from seeing alcoholism and drug addictions on the street to seeing younger people swear and shouting abuse to each other it really does over power those who are like me and probably like a lot of you guys who are genuine people.

I just think it’s so sad. So whenever I’m on the bus now and an elderly person sits next to me I try my best to give a smile that says “Don’t be afraid, you can say hello to me.” and if they want to talk I can spare my time on the bus it’s not like I’m going anywhere! 

I’m sure you can spare 10 minutes to listen to an older person talk, even if it’s just a random conversation you might be the first or only person that has spoken to them for a while. But it can really restore the faith in the elderly that there is still good in the world.

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 146 Helping Hand
    That's really sweet!

    I do understand what you are saying, even the most kind young people swear or look at their phones and it puts people off. We should definitely do this more! How would / did you start the conversation because I wouldn't know what to say?!

  • SienaSiena Posts: 15,688 Skive's The Limit
    edited June 2019
    Thats really nice. Thanks for sharing. 😊😊😊

    Hate to be depressing just honest.
    Generalising people by generations never work. (Not saying your post is about that). But the older generation can be just as rude as the younger generation. I remember some rude older person being very rude to me and idek why. And not just younger generation and its not even just the older generation who are lonely. But yeah just like younger generation some old people are lovely. Just wanted to point that out since ive seen lovely older generation and younger but opposite too

    My point being - talk to anyone not just older people. I remember once i was soo lonely and soo suicidal on a bus (like i was literally planning my death in my head) and this young man was just speaking to me for ages and it was great distraction as well as made me think there are friendly people. & just made me calmer then where my mind was. 

    I think i may be too shy to do it though
    “And when they look at you, they won't see everything you've been through. They won't see the **** that turned to scars that began to fade with time. They won't see the heartbreaking things that shook up and changed your entire world. They won't know how many tears you cried or even what it was you were crying about. They won't see how strong you had to be because you had no other choice. What they will see though is how compassionate you are because you experienced pain. What they will see is how kind you are because you experienced how cruel the world is. What they will see is how good you are because you've seen how bad things or people can be. The difference between you and your experiences are who you choose to be, despite everything that could have turned you cold and unkind.You are the good the world needs and the best of us.” ~ Kirsten Corley
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 774 Part of The Mix Family
    When I first read this I actually started to cry because it's really sad to hear that, generally if someone want to talk on the bus I will talk to them, 

    Once I was on an bus from my village to reading which is about an 1hour and 30mins, and their was an group of elderly gentlemen which all their train spotting stuff, for the whole journey we was all sat at the back and they was telling me all the old storys of what britsh rail was like (British rail, reference to 1950 when the rail network was awful) and I can easily say that was one of my most enjoyable bus journey I've had,

    I find it's more the elderly generation I will talk to because I wouldn't feel comfortable talking to someone in their 30 or 40, I suppose that's just me 
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 133 The Mix Convert
    This is so lovely!

    I travel by train a lot and always try to talk to people, I've heard some amazing stories. My friend recently got chatting to a lady on the train, and afterwards received a card (she'd mentioned where we work) from the lady saying how lovely it was to meet her and she hoped they could stay in touch!
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 774 Part of The Mix Family
    CarolineV said:
    This is so lovely!

    I travel by train a lot and always try to talk to people, I've heard some amazing stories. My friend recently got chatting to a lady on the train, and afterwards received a card (she'd mentioned where we work) from the lady saying how lovely it was to meet her and she hoped they could stay in touch!
    Always talk to people on trains, especially the staff, it's great because you can get an really insight into the location that your going to, I love talking to people on trains 
  • One-in-a-millionOne-in-a-million Posts: 606 Incredible Poster
    It’s nice to hear your veiws guys of course like Shaunie said it goes both ways some elderly people can be just as rude and some younger people can just be as lonely so it is nice to say hello and speak to someone who may need someone to speak to. It wasn’t my intention to classify a certain group so sorry about that.
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