By Elisabeth Strillacci
For the Salisbury Post

My favorite book of all time is “To Kill a Mockingbird,” and I know I’m not alone in that.

There are so many phrases from the book that still come to mind, and some that come from the movie, which I think comes mighty close to sticking to the ideas of the book, an unusual feat these days.

My favorite is when Scout sees Arthur “Boo” Radley behind her brother’s bedroom door and quietly says, “hey, Boo.”

Somehow, the tenderness of that child reaching out to a man everyone else has built into a monster strikes me to the core.

A few years ago, a designer that I enjoyed called Rae Dunn came out with a blanket that has the phrase “Hey Boo” on it. It was designed to be for Halloween, but that black blanket is in my bedroom year round. Every now and again I catch a glimpse of that phrase and always, always my heart is taken back to Ms. Jean Louise “Scout” Finch and her acceptance of Boo.

Of course, Boo saved Scout’s brother’s life, and that opened many hearts, but somehow, Scout seemed to see him just as he was and accept him, regardless.

When she realized that Boo had been the one leaving gifts for her and her brother in the hollow of a tree before Mr. Radley, Boo’s father, cemented it up, it made me smile all over again.

We like to make monsters out of people or things we don’t understand. Someone who behaves differently than we do, outside what we consider the norm, scares us, and we can begin to ascribe negative motives and evil acts to them.

We need to open our child’s minds inside our brains, instead of letting our adult heads, with all our own personal baggage, and see who each person is, with all their differences, instead of letting ourselves get wrapped up in manufactured fear.

That doesn’t mean I’m saying we should not fear anyone. After all, another favorite quote that I live by is Maya Angelou’s statement of, “When someone shows you who they are, believe them the first time.”

But can we wait until they show us? Can we not make a scary haunted house out of the dwelling on the street that maybe hasn’t had the most care and attention, for reasons we may not understand? Maybe it is a person who does not care, or even who wants their home to send a message of unwelcome. Or maybe it’s a family that loves their home, but does not have money to both stay alive and well and take care of the home. We all know sometimes finances don’t meet with dreams or even needs.

The classmate who dresses a little off, or who struggles to make friends or talk to others. Instead of further marginalizing them, can we take a minute to reach out, get to know them, to be a friend? Maybe you don’t mesh, but you don’t have to be mean, and you certainly don’t have to contribute to their exile.

I believe that even now, as I’m coming up on the tender young age of 60, if I saw Boo Radley, no matter what I’d heard, I’d be kind enough to say hello, and be pleasant. I might be nervous, I admit, but I could still say “Hey, Boo.”

Come on, show me that we still have the ability to trust our own judgement, and to give someone a chance to show us who they really are, and not rely on the rumors and innuendo. Sometime this week, I dare you to speak to a stranger that makes you a little nervous. Reach out to someone that you don’t know, someone who might be struggling or alone, and do your best to make a connection.

Even if it’s not perfect, (and it seldom is), you can revel in the pleasure that you gave someone else the gift of friendliness, if just for a moment. And the more you do it, the easier it will get.

Elisabeth Strillacci is former editor of the Salisbury Post.