Somebody Say "G'day"

Dom of Bettnet talks about people's reactions to his little Isabella, as he and his young family go for a walk:

"Something we both noticed is how people ignore her. Now, we’re not those parents who think everyone should go ga-ga over their baby. That’s not what I’m referring to... [N]early all of them treated her like a fire hydrant, just stepping briskly around her without a glance or even a smile... I suppose it might be a New England thing, but I have a feeling it’s just another symptom of a culture that no longer values children..."

...or a culture of people who are too paranoid that every adult they don't know is going to snatch their children on the basis of just looking at them. We are taught as children not to talk to strangers, but the reality is, it's only a risk when the parents aren't around.

A few years ago, early in the evening, I took a Southwest Airlines flight to Seattle. It's open seating with them, and I prefer one by the window. The only choice I got was next to a young mother nursing an infant -- and trying to control a two-year-old boy. In the five hours from Chicago to "Sea-Tac," we watched the lights of the Windy City, read the same Dr Seuss book four or five times, played silly games, and looked at pictures in the airline magazine. Eventually, and as I expected, he fell asleep. I arrived at my destination with a new pal, and a grateful young mother. (I gave her my extra snack box, as I figured she'd have a use for it.)

I talk to dogs, cats, and little kids on the sidewalk all the time. Little toddlers look at you, and they like the stimuli of an adult talking back at them. If you don't touch them, and make sure the parents are watching, and if those parents are not jerks, you're okay.

Dom might be right about New England. I've visited the area before. The weather is freezing in the winter, and many of the natives aren't much warmer throughout the year. I suppose it's just a holdover from the English sense of inhibitions. That, or they just think you're going to move in from New Jersey and raise property taxes.

The friendliest people in America, I have found, tend to be in the South, or the Midwest. Their life also tends to run at a slower pace. People in Washington are often hard to get to know, often due to a collective sense of self-importance. I was here for twenty years before I really started making friends who would return my phone calls within a day or two. (Yes, that is pathetic.)

Among the comments at Bettnet is one from LaVallette in Australia. If the ones living in Washington are any indication, Australians are the friendliest people in the world. What's up with that?
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