What should one do if shaking hands and spreading salutations, which are recommended acts, are met with ridicule and a lack of response from most people?

Initiating the greeting (salām) is a Sunnah, and shaking hands is a means for the forgiveness of sins. To address the issue of some people not initiating the greeting or shaking hands, it is necessary to explain the virtue of these two Sunnahs and that returning the greeting is obligatory, as they increase affection and strengthen bonds of brotherhood. If they persist in their ignorance and mockery after being taught, then let the abandonment be graceful, by being patient with them and leaving them without reproach.