By Anonymous -
Benjamin Hailstone - Swipe File #3

"Behind every great man is a woman rolling her eyes."
Jim Carrey
A favorite audio book by a popular religious youth speaker named John Bytheway (yes, Bytheway) comes to mind.  The book is about some of his trials and triumphs through high school, and he tries to use his experiences and some of his moral and religious ideas to motivate readers through high school.  The title, You're Gonna Make It, expresses the theme of teaching and motivating the reader about what they must do to have a successful social and spiritual experience trough high school.  In that book, he talks a lot about how - as a young middle school-er and a freshman - he really appreciated those who shared simple greetings, like a smile, or a wave, or a simple "Hi!"  As he went on to become a senior, he resolved to always greet and show affability to those around him, because he wanted to return the favor he needed very much in his early middle and high school days.  He made a rule for himself: "If they make eye contact, you say 'Hi.'"
One of the interesting facets in that story for me was the point he made about how some people - when he said "hello" to or smiled at them - would act annoyed. He expressed that he thought that he might have gotten on the nerves of a few of the people he said "hi" to, and he confessed that he enjoyed every moment of it. To quote the author:
"Sometimes I just wanted to grab them by the shirt and yell 'Hey! Lighten up! Stop acting like you're so cool!'
Of course, he never did this, but it was his way of expressing that there were many people that were to prideful and disdainful to acknowledge him, and so they felt insulted to have to respond to someone of "lower social class". John felt that by simply smiling and saying high, he was sending a peaceful message that they didn't have to act like they were too cool for people, or that they didn't have to be rude.
I am going through a similar situation right now, which is why I wanted to mention this story, and the quote. The quote and the story are not by the same person, but they convey similar ideas that relate to my situation.

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