We spend a lot of time passing through places. We pass through the store. We pass through the subway station. We spend enough time in these pass-through places that what happens in these places starts to impact our lives. The people we interact with in these places start to become more than just a stranger. We start to have a context and ongoing dialogue with the people in these places. We start to have the lightest of relationships. I spend so much time in the library I am starting to have this kind of relationship with many of the people that work there. I am grateful for this kind of relationship I have with my library friends, these friendships are just a cool thing in my life.
Every day I hangout at the library I am greeted by these friends. We chat a minute or two and then we go on with our days. I don’t know much about some of these folks, we just chat a little bit. I don’t know most of their last names. I don’t know much about their lives, and I haven’t told them anything much about mine. We exchange a few greetings and that is it most of the time. These interactions are not profound, they are not deep, but they are just nice.
Having places we go that we know people will be nice and greet us with a smile, that is a beautiful thing. I think our library friends, our grocery store friends, our gym friends, these people and relationships are what helps hold a community together. These friendships make our value of life better. In fact when you think about it, we see these friends more than the oldest and best of our friends. These friendships are more tinsel on the Christmas tree, and every tree needs more shine.