Dear Editor,
Even though over the years I have experienced life differently, it is a long time now that I have been pondering to write concerning the following, because of something my father said many years ago. He told me not to try to change tradition if tradition is meant for the good. This concerns the traditional “good morning, good afternoon, good night.”
Over the years I have experienced all kinds of reactions to those three. From, “what is good about the morning”, “maybe your morning is good”, “it’s after twelve”, “how you know that the morning is good?” I have seen people look at their watches, to make sure they say the right thing, etc. I can go on and on.
When I was a little boy and my aunt was busy instilling in me that “I should always give people the time of the day,” my father told her “and when he says good morning, what about the rest of the day?” She answered that is why I teach him to give people “the time of the day.” Either good morning good afternoon or good night.
I adhered to that teaching until the “good evening” came in between. The explanation for when to use “good evening” and “good night” was when you reach somewhere; a home, a place of business etc. in the evening hours, you said “good evening” and when you are leaving you say “good night.”
That is when I got an “aha moment” as Oprah would say. That form of greeting is a wish. You are wishing someone whether a good morning, afternoon, evening or night. When I discussed this with my father he said to me “that is what I meant when I asked your aunt, what about the rest of the day?” So the logical response to a “good morning” or a “good afternoon,” etc., would be “Thank you and the same to you.”
Because of my admonition not to try to change tradition I did not make that a further issue. Beside that, giving people the time of the day is a Caribbean tradition which definitely I was not about to change. On the contrary it should be enhanced.
What I have noticed instead, in this cell phone age, is that people use the fact that they are busy on the phone as an excuse to avoid greeting on passing each other, which without many words is individualizing people. Because of the social media there is no personal contact and we use twittering to do what is called “our dirty work.”
So, in spite of my father’s desire, that tradition of giving each other the time of the day is changing faster than we expect. In light of all of the above I would like to suggest that instead of wishing each other a good morning or a good afternoon, evening or night, we wish each other a “blessed day” which would encompass the whole aspect of greeting. No more looking at watches, no more of those ignorant remarks one would have to take because of a slip-up while doing the decent thing.
Have a blessed day and a blessed week, everyone.
Russell A. Simmons
