Recently, I was in a shop where I needed to pick up
some merchandise. The usual procedure here is that I have placed an order, and
then I go to the shop, tell them about my order, they bring it to me, and then
I sign for it and take it away. Anyway, when I arrived at this shop, there was
a little girl there with her father and the girl couldn’t have been more than
three or four years old. As soon as the little girl saw me, she greeted me with
a very pleasant “hello”, and then, knowing that I would have to sign for my
order, she reached up onto the counter in the shop and gave me a pen.
This interaction started me thinking that if more
people lived and behaved like children, the world would be a much better place.
Now, I am not referring to running around out of control in the name of
playing, putting foreign objects into our mouths, and screaming and crying when
we don’t get what we want or are told “no”. I’m talking about being pleasant as
often as possible, being friendly with perfect strangers, and doing things for
people because it is necessary without asking for anything in return.
Clearly, not every child behaves like this little
girl. Many children are either too shy to say “hello” to strangers, and many
might not yet be able to grasp the idea of giving someone a pen because they
know that the person will need to sign something. However, small children
seldom behave maliciously towards others, and are usually less inhibited
towards strangers than adults. Small children also nearly always have positive
attitudes and are in good moods unless something is bothering them. People need
to be happier, more pleasant and more helpful towards others. In other words,
people need to be more like children and the world would be a better place.
