Nonjudgmental

Today I was supporting a couple of guys who volunteer a few hours a week cleaning at a church on the west side. One of these guys is a social butterfly...seriously, everywhere we take him he's waving and saying "Hello!" and occasionally shaking hands with all the random strangers. (And sometimes we get the snobs who shoo him off like a mosquito...seriously, I've seen people do that several times and it makes me want to explode. Anyway, different point.) Today as we were leaving the car to enter the church, a rough-looking guy was walking by; long, greasy ponytail and baggy clothes and tattoos all up and down his arms, and eyes that said "Don't mess with me." Without skipping a beat, my friend waved and called out a friendly hello. In an instant, I saw the guy's demeanour morph into that of a shy, startled little boy. He replied with a tentative "hello" and carried on his way with a quick, nervous step. And it struck me how my friend had treated this guy with a casual acceptance that he probably rarely, if ever, receives. I wonder if that unconditional greeting affected him at all.