Give people a smile

The quickest possible route to my current job takes me through Karlsruhe's red light district. As I am a rather reserved person, I initially drove through the street looking straight ahead. Especially in the morning, the street is more than deserted, with only the occasional lady sitting in the windows. In the afternoon, when I drive home from work, it's a completely different story. Especially when the weather is good, the street is very busy and there is a hustle and bustle outside the windows.

When I occasionally made eye contact with one of the ladies in the afternoon, I usually looked away very quickly in shame. On reflection, however, I realized that this must be very humiliating. So I decided that from now on, if I made eye contact with one of the women, I would smile at them. After all, everyone deserves to be treated with human kindness.

Of course, the thought also crossed my mind that the smile could easily be misinterpreted in this case. Nevertheless, I tried to stick to my plan for the next few weeks. As I still mostly just look straight ahead as I drive down the road, the smile doesn't come up that often.

One of the women, who apparently must have pretty much the same shift schedule as me, makes an exception here. Almost every morning, the good lady sits in the same chair in the same window, only on a few days is she not to be found there. She always smiles at me when I drive past. However, it is important to mention that her smile could easily be misinterpreted, but I am sure that she also only uses a friendly smile based on mutual respect. A few weeks ago, she even started waving when I drive past. I usually respond to her waving with a "peace sign", which I find much more casual than waving.

The real point I want to make with this story is that this part of my journey to work was always a bit strange. I was usually glad when I had this part behind me. Now I have fun when people wave at me from the windows, not because someone wants my money, but simply out of humanity and decency.

Even if I was already of the opinion before, I am now even more of the opinion that everyone deserves to be treated nicely and sympathetically. In everyday life, almost everyone deserves a nice, warm smile.

What is your opinion on this topic, have you had similar experiences? Have there also been situations in which you felt uncomfortable and then, when you took control, the situation changed almost completely? Then simply share these experiences or your opinion with us in the comments.