If your mouth and cheeks do not hurt from greeting everyone on your way and accompanying it with a sweet smile, then you most certainly did not grow up in an African country or community.
I am a proper Yoruba girl, but I was raised in Nigeria across multiple tribes in the country such as the Ibibio tribe of Akwa Ibom state, Igbo people of Enugu, Hausa people of Kaduna state, and many more tribes across the nation. These are most definitely different tribes with differing cultural values, but one of the most common practices among all of these cultures is “Salutations”.
Salutations for all of these tribes definitely are not the same, but of course, the mode of offering them is quite similar. One thing I have learned living across the major tribes in this country is that no matter who you are or how old you are, you must greet people.
The diminishing culture of salutations, i.e., not greeting people, that we are all so comfortable with now is because everyone is so ‘woke’ and they don’t really care for others, and the rate at which this is happening is quite alarming. The rate at which young people just feel it’s nobody’s business if you decide not to greet people is so wrong, and we need to address that.
How can you even ask a person for anything at all if you do not deem it fit to greet them in the first place? Conversations have to start from somewhere, right? Even letters, be it formal or informal, start with salutations.
In the old days, it was easy to navigate life because you could easily blend in with the way you relate with neighbors upon your arrival in a new community. These days everyone just thinks they can navigate life effectively on their own, greeting people or not.
I found myself living in an unsafe community once where cultism, hooliganism, and petty theft were the order of the town, and not once was I or my family ever threatened by the hooligans that patrolled the area. My secret? I always greeted the “area boys,” and with time they began noticing me, and sometimes on my way from work when I forgot to greet them, they greeted me first and asked me how my day was.
I remember one day when my bag was almost snatched from me; I had valuable documents and a laptop in it. The presumed bad boys of the area swiftly came to my rescue. I know if I were to report that case to the police, I would most definitely not get my valuables back, and if by some miracle I got them back, my belongings would have been tampered with or most definitely damaged. What saved me? Simply greetings, the regular good morning, good afternoon, saved me.
Honestly, greeting people just warms up the heart, and it opens a path of smooth sailing your way into a conversation with even the most difficult people. Although it is such a small gesture, greeting people goes a very long way. When next you’re outside your house, greet people and please accompany it with a smile.