A Gossamer of Connection

I sometimes walk for a spritz of exercise on the college campus where I work. When summer serves up hot days, I walk early while the sun’s low and the heat hasn’t smacked us yet.

I walked yesterday and was lost in thoughts. I’m not Aristotle, so nothing grand. Just noodling about my day’s work and topics for 30-Second Read.

The time was around 8 a.m., so the campus was quiet.

I spied a woman approaching me along the sidewalk we shared but registered little about her – except that she was peering into her phone, just as I was looking for morsels in my mind.

Then, as we were about to pass each other, she looked up and made eye contact.

“Good morning!” she said cheerfully.

“Good morning!” I replied, trying to match her energy and tone.

It was the briefest of moments, a mere gossamer of connection between two people who didn’t know each other – and never will.

And I thought: our cynical and angry culture needs more of that. It needs more tiny yet cheerful interactions between strangers.