Kind Words

This photo was taken in a local hospital…yes, a hospital…inside. Beneath the photo are the words: “you are now in a No Passing Zone”. A few more lines remind hospital workers that no one is to be overlooked or passed by without a greeting. No one passes a room with a call light on. No one is too busy or too much in a hurry to answer a question, give directions, or make someone else feel welcome and valued. Everybody is responsible for hospitality.

Those of us who have been passed by or overlooked or ignored know the uncomfortable feelings associated with that kind of behavior. Imagine what it must feel like to experience that every day because you are poor, shabbily dressed, uneducated and unwanted. So let’s establish No Passing Zones everywhere we go…starting today. Everyone deserves courtesy and a kind word, and that kind word might be the very thing that transforms the giver as well as the receiver.