Three Useless Words, Ritualistic Social Passcode, Devoid of Their Original Intent

<p>Imagine an alien land on Earth and learning our customs&hellip; They&rsquo;d be so confused about why we incessantly ask about each other&rsquo;s well-being but never wait for a substantive reply!</p> <p><strong>&ldquo;How are you?&rdquo;</strong></p> <p><strong>These three words are often asked rhetorically and out of habit, without a genuine interest in the answer.</strong>&nbsp;My response is usually a perfunctory &ldquo;Fine, thanks,&rdquo; regardless. I use these words as a meaningless conversational filler, akin to saying &ldquo;Hello&rdquo; without intending to start a substantive dialogue.</p> <p>Sometimes&nbsp;<strong>&ldquo;How are you?&rdquo;</strong>&nbsp;is asked while passing by me quickly, without time or intention to listen to my response.</p> <p><strong><em>The following could be a make-believe conversation:</em></strong></p> <p>&ldquo;How are you?&rdquo;</p> <p>&ldquo;Fine,&rdquo; comes my default response, even a dying person gives. The truth is that at that moment, it&rsquo;s so long since I&rsquo;ve been fine that I have no idea what that feels like anymore.</p> <p><strong>I&rsquo;ve observed that we rarely want to know the answer when we ask, &ldquo;How&rsquo;s it going?&rdquo; or &ldquo;How are you?&rdquo; in passing. It&rsquo;s just a stand-in for &ldquo;I don&rsquo;t really know what to say, so I&rsquo;ll pretend that I care to know.&rdquo;</strong></p> <p><a href="https://medium.com/illumination/useless-words-no-one-knows-who-the-truth-bearers-are-b8ef72d4adc9"><strong>Click Here</strong></a></p>