Greetings - Do you really want to know?

Yesterday morning a stranger greeted me in a lobby - so why is that interesting you ask? Because he did not just say the usual "Hello" or "How are you doing?" and stop there but he went on to ask "How are you feeling?" and all the while he was walking towards another door leading out. Let me clarify that this was not a doctor's office or anything close to that. Now I really wondered why he would ask me that as part of the usual salutations. Then I wondered why he did not wait for a reply! I am very sure he did not hear what I mumbled back. Did he really want or care to know what this stranger was feeling out there seated in the lobby of an office? And what if I did tell him how I felt (assuming of course that I would meet a total stranger and start telling him about my feelings, a stranger who was evidently did not have time to listen to the reply to this important question) What would he do?

This got me thinking of the greetings and salutations that we so automatically give. We do not even think when we ask someone "How are you?" I must admit if someone responded to that question by tellling me about their issues, problems or even joys at that moment I would be a little taken aback by the TMI (too much information!) It also got me hoping that this is not the new trend - to ask someone "How are you feeling?' as a regular part of a greeting. I would hate to really have to think of how I am feeling at all times so that I can have a ready answer to all who inquire for the sake of it! Really do you truly, really want to know and if you do, what are you going to do about it?

Tappan Zee

I travelled to Connecticut this weekend to bid grandma farewell whose visit to the US has been exhilarating. Those who regularly go North toward Nashua (sounds like a place in Kenya) knows well enough to take Tappan Zee Bridge rather than 1-95. My thoughts wandered on I-287 until I got onto the bridge. This graceful bridge spans the Hudson River approximately 20 miles upstream from midtown Manhattan. I began to marvel at how stretched this thing was. I recalled that back in 2003 we had travelled here (John was too) and Mzee Mwaura noted that too much water is not good (please translate in Kyuk). So I wondered:

• How come such expansive infrastructure is not part of East Africa? Am sure there are parts of Lake Victoria, Lake Turkana, Indian Ocean and other waters that could be bridged.


• Is too much water good? Not after Katrina.


• The fact that the world is made up of 70% water requires that you know how to swim.


• Finally, there are 442 verses in the Bible with the phrase "water." The very first one is Gen 1:6 which says "And God said, "Let there be an expanse between the waters to separate water from water."
  

Next time you travel the Tappan Zee what will your thoughts be?

Thai

I attended a meeting all day today with other mental health professionals. I quickly realized that people get easily bored particularly when a speaker (or presenter) goes off on tangents. I observed that to kill the boredom most would find other things to do such as reading magazines, texting and im-ing each other, going to bathroom every 15 minutes and even playing jawbreaker on their Pocket PCs. Anything to keep the oblangata happy. Am sure you are wondering what I was doing. Right? - I was seated patiently, listening carefully. You don't believe me, ha!

In fact I was thinking about Thailand. See we (four colleagues) had gone for lunch at a Thai restaurant right off 46 in Totowa. As I munched away at my Pad Medmamoung I wondered about this country. So when we got back at the meeting I quickly pulled up my Ipaq and checked on how strong their currency is against the dollar. Can you believe that 1 US dollar = 34 Thailand Baht. See you can invest almost everywhere on earth. Right there I agreed with Prov 13:11 that ... he who gathers money little by little make is grow.