the ’silent but deadly’ pause.
Posted by nathan on 27 Mar 2007 | Tagged as: my life., thoughts on life.
Last week, when the Olan Mills photographers were at New Hope taking photographs for the Church Directory, one of the Olan Mills people walked into the office. Our conversation went something like this:
“Hi, how are you?” The guy asked.
“I am great. How are you doing today?” I replied.
Then, the silent pause…
nothing. He didn’t answer my question–he just kept on walking right past me. I realized that he didn’t care how i was. He was making conversation and attempting to be ‘nice.’
That made me wonder how many times I’ve left people hanging like that unintentionally. If i’ve ever seemingly left you hanging, i apologize–it was not intentional. I really do care about you, and i’m sorry if i’ve ever offended you by my ignorance. I hope to do better in being intentional and real in my conversation.
2 Comments »
on 29 Mar 2007 at 11:44 am 1.
Carma said …
I’ve had that happen to me before, and I got upset. If you’re not going to take the time listen to my response, then don’t bother asking. I realize that they are merely being polite by they pathetic attempt to initiate a converstaion, but if they’re not going to listen or contribute to the conversation, I’d rather they just say hi and smile.
on 29 Mar 2007 at 11:56 am 2.
nathan said …
or, they could say, ‘Hi. I could care less, but how are you?’ as they walk on by. LOL