People are great to have around. I say I’m grateful for people in general because, for one thing, there are a few specific people I’m not so grateful for, but also because I realize I have a tendency to digress into snarkiness from time to time (purely by accident) and I don’t want to end up hurting anybody’s feelings when I’m trying to say how grateful I am that they exist.

I really need to be among crowds of people on a regular basis. When we moved from Boston to Durham, NC, Karen was very sweet to be concerned about how I would still get to mingle with crowds in such a small city. After all, I wasn’t going to be riding the T at rush hour any more. As it turned out, going to the mall was a good thing. And I found work at SAS, where the company cafeteria was pretty well seething with people, so that worked out well.

I get a really good energy from crowds of people–I just love seeing all the different sizes and shapes they come in, and the things they decide to wear, and overhearing what they have to say to one another. I’m not judgmental–they’re all good. I just want to be around them.

And people are generally very well behaved. You read so many letters in the paper about this or that person who was rude to the writer in the checkout line, or cut them off in traffic, or brought an extra guest to a party when the host deliberately bought just barely enough sandwiches for the 8 people he grudgingly included in the first place. That stuff’s nothing! No big deal! Just let it go!

Consider for a moment a trip to the mall, or a crowded supermarket. You are mingling up close with hundreds or even thousands of total strangers, many of them (if you’re in the South like I am) heavily armed. And even if they aren’t armed, there’s a whole rack of razor sharp chef’s knives right there on aisle 8 (cookware). And I hate to think of the mayhem you could commit with some of the stuff on aisle 14 (outdoors and barbecue). Yet no one is going on a killing spree. Yes, you read about shooting sprees sometimes, but how many, compared to the number of times you’ve been in a crowded store?

I’ve never even had anyone shove me or call me an ugly name at the mall. I dropped a pair of gloves in the Copley Place mall in Boston (Boston! The American epicenter of rudeness!) and a passerby called out, “Hey buddy, you dropped your gloves.” How nice is that?

I think they should have a sign in the Kroger that says “It’s been 6,205 days since our last lethal rampage. Happy shopping!” Just to remind us to be grateful.