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"Hello. Happy Easter."
"Thanks. You too."
"That wasn't for you. A guy coming out of the post office wished me a happy Easter."
"Yeah. We don't do that here."

I found myself multitasking at the post office mailing thank you notes from my father's wake and talking on my cell phone to my girlfriend in New Jersey. As I approached the front door, an elderly man with a veteran ball cap on came out of the door. He looked me right in the eye and greeted me with a wish for a happy Easter. I replied and had to explain on the phone what I had just said. She laughed about how that isn't done in the New York/New Jersey area.

But it's true. First of all the person coming out of the post office door most likely would have been on their own cell phone. Secondly the paranoia brought about by the PC Police would have likely caused the veteran to say "Happy Holiday" if anything over wanting to exclude a Passover celebrant. And lastly speaking to a stranger most of the time just causes the woman to grip her purse strap a bit tighter thus defeating the purpose of all politeness.

I remember one of my college professors saying that in Cleveland if someone says something nasty to you it ruins your whole day. And if somebody says something nice to you in New York it ruins your whole day. We all joke about how things slow down as you move from east to south about the country. But maybe it is not from people moving slower but from people having a sense of community, taking time to say hello and being mindful of one another. Maybe I will take a little of that back east with me when my trip ends. 

It did however take two hours to eat at Red Lobster on Good Friday. So everything in moderation I guess.