On-street greetings - continued
Following my earlier post, I realised that I hadn’t fully made my point and wanted to finish it.
Sight, with its ability to see faces, might provide ways in to a more connected experience of neighbourhood and community than blindness. As people walk about the streets, nodding or smiling in acknowledgement of each other as they pass. Without being able to see people’s faces, to see them making such non-verbal acknowledgement of my existence, I find walking around the streets of my neighbourhood an isolating experience, passing countless people in complete silence and at most moving out of each other’s way (other than those who know me). This is far more so for me in the city where there are people who won’t speak to each other, than in the countryside where I might encounter nobody.
I noticed people actually speaking to each other on the streets during lockdown – just saying ‘HI/Alright’ and hoped that the practice would continue, but it seems that things have all too quickly drifted back into the more normal culture of not speaking to strangers.
I want to connect and feel connected in a conscious way to people who I share a neighbourhood with. This doesn’t mean that I want to be friends with everyone who I pass or even have a conversation with them all, but there is potential in social networks so I wouldn’t want to factor out the possibilities of meeting new people through chance encounters. I think my sense of isolation comes from that picture of individual self-containment with its associated avoidance of those who we don’t know.
The culture and personal politics of individualism is powerful with conscious or less conscious proclamations of our ‘right’ to and ‘need for’ our own space, and with them , what I read as a rejection of community, inter-connectedness and inter-dependence.
I want to play my part in helping change that culture and I hope that my (and others’) practice of greeting their neighbours on the streets does something to shift it. and given that my own means of communication is verbal rather than visual, I have little choice but to stick with it as my method of greeting.
It's funny you say that. I noticed exactly the same thing after coming out of lockdown. People Saying Hi to each other more than normal. I hadn't realised until you pointed it out - that things had 'gone back to normal'. A strange thing I did notice though - and I found it disturbing as a sighted person - was that I felt people avoiding each others gaze during the early stages of lockdown when out for 1 hr of exercise - as if by looking at you - they might risk contracting COVID. Very strange. In those cases I deliberately said hello to at least force a gaze. I agree ... we could all do better by communicating more verbally. It's maybe even further compounded by people gazing at their mobile phones when walking around the streets. From one grumpy onld bloke to another - Cheers Ian
ReplyDeleteYes, the ‘forcing of a gaze would be like me saying “Morning”, getting no reply and saying , “I said good morning!”.
DeleteI am increasingly finding that I could justifiably respond to sighted people who bump into me while on their phones in the same way that they’ve often responded to me over many years:
“You fucking blind or what?”
Seeing others and being seen by them is an important part of me feeling part of and comfortable within a local population and the geographic area we share. Whilst out I've noticed the aging of regular fellow local street walkers and imagine my aging is noted, too.
ReplyDeleteThis makes me realise that what I see and therefore am able to notice, is more about the physical landscape of my neighbourhood than the people. How it changes through human intervention and with the seasons. Although I can see people, it isn’t enough to recognise them, or see their faces, certainly not to be able to see changes in them. While I’ve not known any different, this is something that I miss out on and I guess a reason why I verbally greet people on the street as a way of attempting to fleetingly connect and hoping to manifest our aliveness.
DeleteThere’s something wonderful about living somewhere long enough to notice people aging as you age. It sounds like you appreciate it, do you communicate anything to people as you pass and notice them?
I don't know if I appreciate the signs of aging wherever they're located, although the increased lack of caring what others think is very welcome. I have no memory of mutual recognition between me and those on the street who I recognise from years of being around the same areas without any actual or meaningful contact or exchange as they've been merely extras to my leading role.
Delete