Seeking a better rote response? Consider the Jesus example

My wife and I have been fortunate enough to travel -- to the British Isles, continental Europe and the Middle East.

I've noticed at least one rhetorical difference between the U.S. and these far-flung locales.

In our country, we don't like to pass one another in a hallway, in the street or in a marketplace without saying something.

A former SEMO student from Ukraine remarked to me about this tendency in a recent interview -- marveling at the willingness of Americans to speak abruptly to total strangers.

Indeed, in London, in Jerusalem, in Prague, I've found my own attempts to banter are met generally with complete silence.

In America, we consider the refusal to reply as rudeness.

It is true many of the brief exchanges we have with one another involve relatively mindless rote responses.

A common question when passing another human being is "How are you?"

If we are the recipient of such a query, many of us resort to a default reply in lieu of actual conversation.

To wit:

"It's the best day of my life."

"Hey, I'm just living the dream."

"If I was any better, I'd need medication."

[Frankly, the last of those responses, I really don't understand.]

In high school in the early-to-mid 1970s, the cantankerous owner of a family-owned supermarket had his own patented reply to the stated question.

"How are you doing today, Vic?"

"There's no use complaining. Nobody's listening anyway."

I knew Vic pretty well. He never failed to use the aforementioned reply, which perhaps spoke to his own life experience.

This newspaper has started a recurring series of articles with the working title, "Did You Know?" and this writer has been inspired.

Did you know Jesus may have had a rote response in the pages of the New Testament?

Scholars may beg to differ but I'm suggesting the Master might have had such a reply at the ready as people regularly approached him.

As the Nazarene's fame grew in Galilee and later in Judea in old Palestine, Jesus was confronted in towns and in the countryside by people he didn't know.

They came without artifice seeking healing or a miracle - and once in a while for teaching.

Examples

• Matthew 10:31: Fear not. You are of more value than many sparrows.
• Luke 5:10. Fear not. From now on, you will be fishers of people.
• Luke 8:50. Fear not. Believe only and she shall be made whole.
• Luke 12:32: Fear not, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
• Revelation 1:17-18: Fear not. I am the first and the last, the living One. I was dead but see, I am alive forevermore, and I hold the keys to death and hell.

Some translations change "Fear not" to "Do not be afraid."

Either one will suffice.

Consider Jesus' reply the next time someone passes you at Cape Walmart or at the Pit in Jackson or in any other spot where people congregate.

"Hey, buddy, how are you doing?"

Fear not, friend. Do not be afraid.

That reply may well stop passersby in their tracks and might actually spark an authentic conversation -- the kind of talking we so rarely seem to do these days.