Greeting people by name in old-time Phoenix


One of the things that I often hear about Phoenix is that since it's grown so big, people don't greet each other by name anymore. And if you've ever lived in a small town, you know that it can be a good thing, and a bad thing.

Speaking for myself, I like it. I like walking into to my favorite coffee shop and recognizing faces, and having those faces recognize mine. They may not remember my name, but they recognize my face. This type of recognition wherever you go makes it difficult for people who want to sneak around, and tends to make people kinder and more honest. It's human nature - people tend to be nicer to people that they know, they'll hesitate to steal a car from Bob, who lost his wife last year, and would much prefer to steal it from someone they don't know.

Of course, there are still real stinkers, who will be real stinkers no matter what. But in my experience these people are such a small percentage that they can be discouraged by locking your car, and taking your keys.

I've always refused to live in the Big City, I've made small towns of everywhere I've lived, including Los Angeles. I wave to people, I say hello, I make eye contact. If I can get them to share their name with me I'll use it, and remember it. There are, of course, some people who are so timid and frightened that they won't communicate at all, but really, they're a tiny percentage.

Remembering people's names isn't difficult if you care about them. I've known a lot of people who say to me, "I don't remember names!" and I know what that means - they don't remember names of people that they don't care about. Nobody does. If you hand me a phone book of a bunch of random people in Toledo I'd have difficulty remembering any of them, but for people I care about, it's easy.

Time-travel with me to when Phoenix was a small town, and you could remember everybody's name. Based on how my memory works, that would be about 1870, when there were only a handful of people. The town grew quickly after that, especially after World War II, and asking me to remember everyone's name in Phoenix would have been ridiculous. But I would have remembered the people that I care about.

I love living in a small town, and I love Phoenix and LA!
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Comments

  1. UnknownJanuary 30, 2020 at 1:15 PM

    Brad I am remodeling a family home from 1925 and hoping to find photos from the Creighton manor area. Is that something that you could help with?

    ReplyDelete

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