I'm so thankful to live in a small town like Rossland rather than a large city or suburb. In Rossland, it's not uncommon to stop on the street and have a quick conversation with someone you might not even know, whereas in larger cities I have noticed that people generally are much more focused on getting to where they need to go, as fast as possible, and without acknowledging any one's presence around them. Ex:
This story of multiple people walk past a stabbing victim as he bled to death in New York. Of course I know that not everyone in big cities are like this, but my experience in relatively large cities (Spokane, Kelowna, Vancouver, LA) has been that many people aren't inclined to being so friendly and I just wasn't feeling any positive vibes from anyone. When I was in Abbotsford for soccer last Fall, we would try to see how many people would say hello to us... the number wasn't very high, most people seemed to be confused and kind of creeped out.
Why do larger cities breed robots? Are people really so absorbed in themselves that they can't acknowledge the human beings around them? Is it really so hard to make eye contact with, smile to, and give a slight nod to people you meet on the street? Or even a polite "Hello" or "Good morning/afternoon"? I know that I always do when I pass someone who returns my eye contact, to me it's just proper etiquette.
This is the photo that prompted this thought.
