To the editor:
It’s not often that the ‘letter of the week’ makes me feel sad. (There was a Time When People Smiled, Said Hello, Capital News April 5.
If I was to take Ann-Marie Jackson’s letter to heart I would think that all is lost. I may presume that all people are self-absorbed and oblivious. Perhaps too that we distrust and avoid our dangerous, meddling and promiscuous neighbours. That my kids never glance up from their ‘iThings’, that we never eat a meal together and that my marriage is on the rocks, etc., etc.
I may also presume that Ann-Marie does not live in Kelowna.
In our neighbourhood, we know who most of our neighbours are. We house sit, take care of their pets and share meals. If they don’t smile the first time, I keep trying and offer a bigger smile. We have a ‘no electrics’ rule at the dinner table and I could only hope that my son marries a girl as kind and beautiful as my neighbour’s daughter.
Our neighbourhood and town are what we make them.
Keep smiling Ann-Marie, eventually the world will smile back.
Darci Sellers,
Kelowna
