October 13, 2024

By Arthur H. Gunther III

thecolumnrule.com

You walk into a room, see someone and instinctively ask “How are you?” “Fine,” the gal/fellow answers. “You?” “OK,” you say. The conversation, which is not that at all but an opening to the scene, might then move to “Gee, it’s cold today. Guess fall is coming.” Well, it is coming, and so are many other things in your world, the other person’s as well. But politeness must rule. Civility too.

Such social talk is as routine as getting up in the morning, brushing teeth, moving about. We would feel strange, out of place, if we missed habit, and that holds true in social contract.

Of course, there are individuals we interact with who don’t require opening remarks. Our language with them is so seamless that though we may not have seen each other in a long time, we pick up the sentences where we left off. With a smile. With great comfort, even coziness.

These are the people in our lives with whom we do not leave our moment together by putting a period in the last sentence.

There is no need to say anything beyond “See you,” because whatever volume of words we have with each other never empties. We will return and speak more.

The writer is a retired newspaperman.

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