April 16, 2024

Every day, I’ll have multiple interactions, sort of, that’ll remind me that I am a nobody to somebody. It could be in the hallways at school when I’ll pass a colleague who doesn’t seem to notice me, looking straight ahead to the distant stairwell. It’ll definitely be while I’m on the road when someone willfully forgets that there are other cars around. It could be at the grocery store when someone puts themselves between me and the shelf I’m looking for an item on.

Once, at a barbershop down the road, someone walked in and sat in the chair ahead of me, explaining that they had been there earlier but left to take a phone call. I had been waiting for nearly half an hour. I now go to a place that takes appointments.

Daily, I remind students to show appreciation and say, “Thank you.” It’s harder for me to call staff out. Small gestures like these could prevent big problems later on.

Worse than being unacknowledged is being useful to someone. Why do people suddenly care about my weekend when they need something? How is it that the same person who walked blankly by me yesterday has time for small talk and a request today? Why is being kind to one another a tactic?

I’ve developed many of these same attributes. I’ll ignore hearing my name being called down the hallway and test the car’s width when I’m feeling particularly aggressive on the road. I’m curt with folks all the time. The other day, I just pointed to the sign for the washroom and walked through where some guys were loading a delivery truck. I’ve started…