Common Courtesy

I talked with more and more 'transplanted' Californians who say the same things I do about the 'Golden State.'

I offered my card to a woman recently, but before she even read it, she said, "No thank you, I'm not interested." Interested in what? Not interested in what? I wanted to ask. Instead I just shook my head and walked back to my car.
I could have been offering a million - yeah right... But it's just the idea of an unwillingness to communicate.

The prevalent idea seems to be that personal contact means you want something from the person you begin a conversation with.
Maybe, but you'll never know unless you talk to each other about it. Networking is a good thing.
The unwillingness to engage still boggles my Wandering sensibilities.

It's not hard to see how far something as simple as a 'Good Morning' or holding a door for someone can go in making someone feel welcomed or a part of the human condition here. A sense that, 'hey, you're in the wild west, but you're not alone' would be a welcome sensation.

But over and over again, common courtesies are absent.
There is a cultural divide here. A divide in humanity.

And I believe it's one that can begin to be bridged with just a little common courtesy.