Greetings

  • A friend of mine who has purchased a new mobile some time back forgot to twiddle with the settings in the various apps downloaded in the new one
  • This resulted in his birthday being recorded in the default as 1st January
  • And expectedly he has received a shower of birthday greetings from friends
  • He pointed out this error later in the day today but some messages continue to trickle in
  • It has made me realize how shallow we are in greeting others
  • We greet all and sundry by copying and pasting
  • New year greetings, birthday greetings, festival greetings... do we really mean what we say?
  • Are we really happy and wanting to share the joy and happiness of a birthday or a festival?
  • Earlier in the pre-mobile days, pre-facebook days there was no means of being reminded of birthdays
  • We treasured a few people and made it a point to personally greet them on their birthdays
  • We travelled to each others houses to greet people on festive occasions
  • And the greetings were few but more memorable and meaningful
  • We remember having being greeted by someone we loved or respected and often looked forward to the meeting
  • We took pains to purchase gifts days in advance for a close friend or relatives birthday
  • Yet the number of greetings now have increased but are not memorable any more
  • Conversely we check to see if a certain person has conveyed his wishes or not and if that person has failed to wish (albeit electronically) we hold a grudge against that person
  • Have we really become so shallow?
  • Do we really need to follow this trend?
  • Can't we go back to the good old days?
  • Is it really difficult?
  • Can't we have fewer but more meaningful relationships?

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