I usually took a bus to school. I found that most passengers were silent and never had a conversation with anyone else.
About a year ago, an old man got on the bus and said loudly to the driver, "Good morning!" Most people looked up, wondering why, and the bus driver didn't take it seriously and just replied in a cold voice, "Mm-hmm"The next day the man got on and again he said in a loud voice, "Good morning!" to the driver. Another "Mm-hmm". By the fifth day, the driver finally answered him with a little happy "Good morning!" Then the man said, "My name is Benny" The driver told the man that he was Sam.
That was the first time any of us had heard the driver's name and soon people began to talk to each other and say hello to Sam and Benny. Soon Benny spread his happy "Good morning!" to the whole bus. Within a few days, his "Good morning!" was returned by a lot of "Good mornings" and the whole bus seemed to be friendlier. People got to know each other.
"Benny truly showed friendship among us with a simple 'Good morning!'," I thought.
Then suddenly, Benny stopped showing up. Everyone began to ask about Benny, wondering what happened to him. No one knew what to do and the bus got quiet again. So, last week, I started to act like Benny and say "Good morning!" to everyone and the whole bus cheered up again. Hopefully, Benny could come back to see his "Good morning!" mattered a lot.
Sometimes we see some strangers so many times that we know their faces well, but we never even say hello to them. By saying hello, friendship starts to grow, and sunshine comes to the world around us, and love spreads over the community we are in. Why not start a "hello" today?
