The Act Of Greeting

Greeting is an act of communication in which human beings make their presence known to each other. Through Greetings individuals also establish new relationships with others. The importance of Greetings can not be overemphasized thus its adoption in diverse cultures in the world. However it is rather interesting to note that this habit of Greeting is dying gradually among the youth and even the elderly today. I quiet remember in my early years as a growing child (during my primary and basic education stages) the first thing I learnt was how to greet. This act of Greeting was taught to me by my teachers who always made sure that once they entered a classroom all of us in the class will stand to greet them �Good morning Sir or Madam�. All pupils were advised to greet their parents whenever they got home from school and this we all did with enthusiasm when we got home. When I proceeded to the Junior Secondary school, this habit of Greeting began to decline since most teachers were unperturbed about our greetings. A teacher will enter a class and go straight to introduce the topic for the day. This was not to change as I went to the Senior Secondary school. I believe this scenario is not peculiar but most people have noticed same when they were growing up. Here in the University which is also regarded as �Institution of higher Learning� the story is not different. It is sad to note that as we grow old we tend to see greeting as trivial in our lives instead of fostering it. Hello friend, all is not lost. You can start cultivating the habit of greeting by greeting the person you will meet after reading this piece even if you do not know him or her. A casual �Hi� or �Hello� followed by a brief introduction of yourself will be enough. It is imperative to state that Greetings also enable us to acknowledge the presence of people around us. Imagine being in a lecture room or hostel room and someone enters without greeting you. How do you feel after that? Or when sitting in a car and another person comes to sit next to you without greeting you. One might say that it is not compulsory to greet people so why the fuss? Yes it is not compulsory and no one can compel someone to greet another but courtesy demands it and it does not cost a thing to show this courtesy to people. I will conclude this piece by admonishing all of us to exhibit the habit of greeting wherever we find ourselves. However, when we do so we should not do it for doing sake but go a step ahead to do it sincerely and make people feel important when we greet them. Looking directly at the face of the person you are greeting followed by a sweet smile is a good way to start. Here is a quote by Leonado Davinci: �Knowing alone is not enough, we must apply. Willing alone is not enough, we must do�.