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To begin, I feel like I have to address some apprehension I have about writing for others to read, especially on a topic that has no clear-cut base, is a little vague and is built of personal observations. The concept of giving my writing up for appreciation or criticism, probably criticism, is new and unnerving.

So, I wonder: Will people be nice to the writer of an article about being nice? Will they automatically assume I am a nice person because I write about — and am therefore concerned — with friendliness, or the lack of it in the community and be nice in return?

There are apparently too many outcomes, all of which seem to take the overuse of nice to the next level, and I’m confusing myself further, so I’ll get over the fact that not everyone is nice and write it.

Like the title says, being nice will really make you feel better. It seems like common knowledge, so I’ll bypass the use of any medical statistics or scientific quotes.

No matter, my main goal is to address why being nice does make one and others feel better, except when others aren’t nice back.

Case 1: Shopper enters store, walks through with cart, marks items off list and proceeds to check-out. The individual behind the counter greets shopper with a “hello” or “hi” and shopper blatantly ignores the friendly attempt of connection made by the bored-out-of-her-mind cashier.

Here is what could have happened in the time that the customer entered the store and entered the check-out lane to make him or her so unwilling to be sociable to a stranger: an out of stock sale item, a squeaky cart, a parking lot boxing match as they walked toward the entrance or the unavoidable extra expense of an item. I really just wonder what absurd reason one could have for not being nice, and as in this case, failing to make a one syllable reply.

Case 2: A stranger waves. Very simple, lift an arm and move a hand, but rarely returned.

Such an action is regularly intended to be a gesture of kindness or a signal of a common relation between two drivers on the road or pedestrians on a walk. Although the definition of a wave is universally known and understood, many seem to struggle mimicking this motion as well. The physical difficulty of a wave is nothing like taking a drink or swatting a bug; however, it seems to be much more complicated.

I wave at a passerby; he or she may instinctively wave back, which is a simple maintenance on the chain of nice. Or he or she may follow with the more consistent occurring alternative of getting wrapped up in the details and concerned with the self vulnerability that waving to a stranger can cause.

And for this fear it may be that many do not return an amiable gesture, such as a wave, but also fail to react to niceness presented to them elsewhere. This shielding effect needs to be overcome on both ends on the nice spectrum; the nice people need to understand that those who don’t respond to them favorably are not necessarily mean, and the mean people need to be nice to prove the preceding.

Of course, it isn’t as clear-cut as that, but by stating it so, I feel that I get my point across, and through directness barely manage to successfully achieve my goal of encouraging the community to say hello and wave, and possibly say hello while waving. Hopefully, not to be to repetitive, we can be nice and thus all feel better.

Gina Wheeler is a senior at Onalaska High School.