I've been parking quite a ways from the college this semester and walking, mostly because I don't want to risk any more parking tickets. Last semester, I got pretty good at learning the patrolling schedule avoiding most tickets, but one or two slipped by anyway. It was a minor annoyance, but it's not the parking tickets deterring me from choosing a closer, open neighborhood spot to park... Those annoyances I can handle. I just can't handle the calls from my father whenever the impatient UMD sends HIM seemingly bi-weekly reminder notices that I am supposed to pay the aforementioned ticket. The hassle of talking to him about it, hearing about costs of "towed cars" (after one ticket? really?), and the feeling that he really doesn't think I am capable of handling the issue without him overseeing it really bugs me though.
So to save myself that, I often opt to walk 10-15 minutes through the sub-zero Arctic Circle terrain that is Duluth, to get to the school. This may have something to do with why I struggle with attendance, but that's beside the point.
Anyway, on to the point of my story (there is one, I promise)...
One day last week, it was almost nice outside. As I made this painfully boring walk (did I mention there is absolutely no scenery in this area?) I started coming up on this middle-aged to older woman walking her dog - an airedale terrier - in the opposite direction. We were sharing a half-iced sidewalk, so I courteously scooted over as far to the right onto the ice as I dared to go.
She, reading my body language completely wrong said "He won't hurt you." I countered with "That's a beautiful dog..." and before long, she was letting me pet this very cute canine. As I stood there enjoying actually touching a dog for the first time since... gosh, when was the last time I was home? Christmas Day, I think... As I stood there, I quickly realized that between the dog leaning heavily into my upper legs, skillfully directing me to the places he'd like to be scratched and the woman striking up conversation, there was a clear winner in who was more desperate for attention.
This poor woman seemed so extremely happy to have someone stop and talk with her, that I felt horrible as I thanked her for letting me borrow her dog for a moment, and moved on toward the campus. It amazed me how much simple pleasure this woman seemed to get from a little bit of small talk over dogs. But when I stopped to think things through, I guess we all aren't that much different.
When deprived of human contact for a while - and I noticed this a lot more heavily in the cities with the homeless - we as people tend to become very hungry for just the hint of interaction. I remember waiting outside for a bus several times, and having a homeless person begin telling me all kinds of stories from their lives, even when they weren't asking for money. And if you engaged them in conversation, their faces would absolutely light up.
I don't think this applies to the chronically lonely, either. My day has been made several times, just by seeing someone I maybe didn't expect to see, or meeting someone out of the blue, and chatting with them - sometimes for as little as 15 seconds.
The power of human communication is an amazing thing. We're wired to interact with others. We want to be noticed, to feel even a little bit important, to be seen and appreciated. And when satisfying a basic need like this for someone is as simple as 15 seconds of our time, who are we to deny them that?
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