Have a great...

Would it creep you out if we were having some kind of social interaction and at the end of it, just before parting, you said to me "have a great day" and I replied with "have a great forever" ? Would your mind automatically assume that I was suggesting you were going to be dead soon? I mean even to my ears it sounds a little off. My meaning though is not nefarious in any way. Perhaps it is more something to just jolt people out of their everyday autopilot system.

Take a minute or two and think about it. People tend to respond to social niceties like robots. There are commonly used phrases that we are programmed to reply to with the appropriate ending to the equation that the other person began by speaking.  When greeted we reply back often by reflex, without thinking about what we are doing.  We are told that this is normal and what we should do.

They say hi, we say hi. They do something we say thank you, they say you're welcome. They say have a nice day, we say have a nice day.

While I agree that we should return kindness with kindness and a polite greeting in kind as well, I think the reflex should be cancelled. One should never reply without a bit of thought about what the person said to you and then some reflection on how we feel about what they said. Then, after that we can reply with whatever is true for us. It will only take a couple of extra seconds. And then the interaction will actually mean something to both parties, instead of  being some archaic formulaic ritual that we observe. Slow down, take the extra few seconds. It will make life richer for all involved.

Now having said that, when I think about the phrase have a nice day, at first, it seems like polite and generous well wishing on the part of the giver.  But then my naturally overactive mind goes, but what about tonight, or tomorrow, or the week after next or next year. Does the person's benevolence towards my well being die out in just a small handful of hours? Surely if you were to have a private conversation with whoever it was that wished you a nice day they would say they never really thought about it.

It is something though, that I think we should think about. Language is very important. It is an essential part of communication and since we all live in our own little worlds inside our minds, we need to be very clear what it is that we transmit from world to world when we have such opportunities to communicate. If you really do wish positive things upon another person and want their lives to be the very best they can possibly be, why stop at today? Why not wish them a happy forever?

Up until now this has just been a thought swirling around in my head. From this point forward I am going to make a point of changing my speech patterns to include my true desire for other human beings and that is for them to be happy all the time, not just today. And if you agree with my way of thinking, then I encourage you to do the same.

Have a great forever. And talk to you again soon.