HOW DO YOU GREET? --by Nickz

The Igbos say Otutuoma. The Hausas say Inakwana. The Yorubas say Ekaro. The Ibibios say Amesiere. Pardon me if I haven't included your language or tribe. We just wonna talk about greetings and salutations. 

As we all know, greeting is a very powerful communication medium. A new neighbour moves in next to you. Every morning he steps out and sees you, he says with a smile, "Good morning my friend!" Automatically, you'll begin to like the new face and probably wonna interact with him. 

I've once been greeted by a young girl, most likely in her late teens. She just mumbled the "Good morning" in such a low voice and with such an unhappy face I thought she was abusing me. Many times, we walk with straight faces, rushing to meet up our daily affairs, failing to notice that elderly person we ignored or the greeting a younger person said to us. Other times, we may remember to greet but we don't even look the person in the face, we just toss the saltless greeting into the air. The recipient may end up not knowing we had even said something thereby rightly assuming we're disrespectful. This kind of greeting is often noticed in young people when they try to act like "This greeting thing is not compulsory, afterall he doesn't feed me. Let me just greet before they say I didn't." In such cases, I'd say it's better they had walked silently past than to have parted their lips. 

There are other times that ego clash sets in where one person walks past another, both expecting the other to greet first. They end up not greeting each other. In some other cases, we can't greet people because that thing in us tells us, "I don't know him so what's my business with him?" Surprisingly, this so called unknown person is someone we come across everyday in our streets or workplaces. 

You don't have to become mental and keep saying "Good morning" or "Happy weekend" to every Tom, Dick and Harry you meet on your way. You just have to improve on your level of interacting with the people around you through greetings. You go to the bank, say a pleasant greeting to the teller. You may be amazed how she'll handle your needs with extra attention. It may not take much from us, just a drop of energy. Touch people positively with your greetings! One lav!