College forces us out of our comfort zones, making us interact with new people each day. Over the past weekend, I interacted with the most people I have ever in a span of 4 days. One interaction in particular really stated and drove in the “Power of Communication”. Last minute, one of my friends decided to come up for Arts Fest and stay with my roommate and I. He came up with his car and parked in a parking garage thinking that it would not be that expensive for the weekend. After realizing how much it would be to park there for two days, he decided to move it and try to find a free parking spot on the street somewhere. Looking for probably 45 minutes, he finally decided to flag down a local who was out mowing his lawn. “Excuse me sir, do you know anywhere around here where I could park for free?” my friend Anthony said to the older gentleman on his riding mower. “For how long?” the man replied. “About 2 hours,” Anthony said back. “If you want, you can park right below my house in that church parking lot. I’m the monitor of it and I won’t say anything.” The man yelled over his mower. We thanked him profusely and went and parked. After parking, we walked up and started talking to him. He was a very nice man, about 80 years old or so. Giving us his life story, we learned that he’s lived in State College most of his life, fought in Vietnam, got arrested one year when he was our age, and was a heavy machine operator up in Alaska for a while. Before talking to him, the man seemed a little firm and grouchy but after letting him open up to us, he was loose, energetic, laughing, and his face was lit up. When my friend and I decided to say our goodbyes to us, he thanked us for listening to him and was in a totally different mood than when we first met. We ended the conversation with him saying that we could stay parked for the weekend and that if anyone gives us problems, tell them that Lawrence said it’s alright and deal with him. With everyone laughing, my friend and I thanked him and went on our way to go have fun in the Arts Festivities. In conclusion, this interaction drove in the fact that by just talking, you can totally flip the mood of somebody. From now on, I will show friendliness to all who I interact with and simply let people talk.
