Compliments

I bemoan the loss of the ability to compliment someone. I was raised to say "please" and "thank you", to greet people with a smile and a handshake, to compliment a person on how nice they looked or their selection of perfume and to leave a place nicer than how you found it. In society today such activity would put someone under suspect of ulterior motives. People don't shake hands but prefer to bump hands or not touch at all. It is safer not to say anything than be misconstrued by a comment taken the wrong way. I have a couple of friends that have lost weight and I won't say anything about it rather than be suspect of making a pass at them. It might be my own insecurities but have been in such situations and have seen others get in trouble for similar situations. My father's friends would ask me to shake their hands and would teach me how to give a good handshake. They said you could learn a lot about a person from how they shake your hand. I agree but find very few people return the gesture when I put out my hand to shake it. It is almost a social stutter on their part as they do not know how to react to someone offering this salutation.