I Compliment Random Strangers

Is that a good thing to do? Or an awful one?

Sheila Tracy in her story I Misgendered a Little Boy at Target Last Week and Then Listened to His Mom Clean Up My Mess, talks about how she compliments random strangers.

Where I found the woman in the gown who I complimented for “glowing.” Author’s image.

Last autumn, I complimented a random stranger in front of my daughter, Sivakami, who is turning sixteen this month.

A young lady was coming out of her apartment complex. She was dressed in a gown-salwar and had jewelry and makeup on. I wasn’t expecting to see someone dressed like that in the hot afternoon sun. I was taken aback and I blurted, “Wow, you glow!”

My daughter, who was holding my hand at the time, in a lovey-dovey way, suddenly clenched my hand in a gesture of “No, no, no, don’t do that, Mom!”

We walked a bit further, out of earshot of the young lady in the gown-salwar and then Sivakami let me have it.

She said,

What deep-rooted insecurity do you have, Mom, that you feel compelled to compliment strangers?