Keep Your Head Up

Chicago can be an enchanting city. There are so many beautiful aspects to it. Sometimes I find myself looking around thinking, “Holy Cow! I live in Chicago!” It’s amazing to me that this fact catches me by surprise even though I have lived here for a year and a half. But, I realized something this morning as I was walking to practicum. No one ever really looks at anyone else. Everyone is so busy trying to get to the next spot quickly that they don’t look at the people they are passing on the street. In any given day, in a big city like Chicago, I can pass 100 people on any given day. But how many would I be able to recognize if shown their picture? Two, three, maybe five? When I realized this I tried to catch the eye of the next several passersby and managed to make eye contact with one person. One person! As a result, they smiled at me and wished me a good day and I found myself smiling in return. Such a simple way to bring some joy into my day and hopefully someone else’s. As I have been thinking about this encounter today I realized it’s no surprise that people feel so disconnected and lonely in a city like Chicago, because we don’t connect in the simplest ways possible! Next time you are headed out an about don’t look at the ground. Look up. Meet someone’s eye and smile. Keep your head up Chicago, who knows, you might make someone’s day.