“Forget yourself by becoming interested in others. Every day do a good deed that will put a smile of joy on someone’s face.” 

– Dale Carnegie

Do You Ask Strangers How They Are Doing?

As a workplace safety advocate and author of a book on widowhood, I’ve heard an awful lot of heartbreaking stories of loss over the years. But I have also heard plenty of heartwarming (and helpful) anecdotes about people’s loved ones.

I learned this beautiful life tip from a woman whose boyfriend, Liam (a 27-year-old plumber apprentice), was killed when a trench collapsed on him, in yet another preventable workplace fatality:

When buying a coffee or groceries, Liam always asked the person serving him how they were doing. “He genuinely cared how people were doing,” his partner told me. “He saw the person behind the counter as a human being, not just someone taking his order.”

Prior to hearing this story, I had been a bit hit and miss with remembering to ask the person serving me how they were doing. Since hearing this story, however, I pretty much always remember to ask.

Why? Because I love what happens when I do.

To see a stranger’s face light up when someone acknowledges them is what I now call “The Liam Effect.”

Mind you, the circumstances in which I first heard about Liam’s habit of asking how others were doing certainly played a role in ensuring I…received the message, shall we say, and passed it on to others.

In a previous blog, A Day in the Life of a Workplace Safety Advocate, I shared about my experience of listening in on an interview with Liam’s partner, Emily, for the John Petropoulos Memorial Fund documentary project, Complacent, we are developing.

Emily was talking to the director about what happened the day Liam was killed, when the trench he was working in collapsed. Emily shared how when she first heard of the trench collapse, she raced to the jobsite and waited there with police and firefighters – who were unable to get to Liam because the site was too unsafe even for rescue workers.

Emily spoke about how horrific it was to know that Liam may still be alive beneath all that earth…but there was nothing anyone could do. Liam died that day. From a workplace safety perspective, his death could have easily been prevented if the company he worked for had insured the proper safety measures were in place.

We cannot bring Liam back. But we can make the world a little bit better in his memory.

So I for one will continue to ask strangers how they are doing. It’s easy, fast…and usually unexpected. But pretty much always appreciated. And making a stranger’s day a little bit brighter is reason enough for me

Maryanne Pope is the author of  “A Widow’s Awakening.”  She also writes screenplays, playscripts & blogs. Maryanne is the CEO of  Pink Gazelle Productions  and Co-Founder of the  John Petropoulos Memorial Fund.  To receive her blog, “Weekly Words of Wisdom,” please  subscribe here . And be sure to visit our  PinkGazelleCards Etsy shop .

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