You may say I'm a dreamer

Now that the weather is getting warmer, I've been taking a 3 mile walk every Saturday morning. Sometimes I buy groceries. Sometimes I go to the bank or the post office or the shop. It's wonderful to have that time to myself to observe everything around me, and I see houses and trees and things that I drive by everyday, and yet I see them for the first time when I walk by them slowly, with nowhere to rush off to. It's a wonderful feeling. And I pass people on the sidewalk and say hello. Isn't it sad that people are surprised when I make eye contact and ask them how they're doing as we walk by each other? People are in such a hurry to get everywhere, that they don't want to be bothered with saying hello to someone walking right towards them. I love greeting strangers with a smile on Saturday mornings. Maybe it's the African in me. But I don't understand why people prefer to walk by someone on the sidewalk, pretending as if they didn't even see them, and doing anything to avoid eye contact. Is that moment of human connection really that much of an inconvenience? A few weeks ago, I walked by an old man and smiled and asked how he was doing, and he thanked me for the beautiful smile. I made his day, and with his response, he made mine. It was one of the few times I've felt ubuntu in America. And at the same time, it was sad that a simple encounter like this is so rare that he felt he should thank me for just acknowledging that I see him. I wonder what it would be like if we could strip away all the greed, and we were left only with our relationships with everyone around us. Would we live our lives differently? I think John Lennon had it right all along, if only we had been really listening - Imagine no possessions. I wonder if you can. No need for greed or hunger. A brotherhood of man. Imagine all the people sharing all the world. You may say I'm a dreamer, but I'm not the only one. I hope someday you'll join us.