Politeness CAN be Automatic

For those of you who think I can only rant about the stupid stuff in the world (such as when people forget to be polite), here’s an example of someone who seemed to do the right thing automatically.

Yesterday I was out to lunch with a friend. After lunch, as we were walking out of the restaurant, there were two elderly ladies in front of us. I won’t hazard to guess how old, but let’s just say this may not have been the first “09/09/09” they have seen. One of them was walking with a walker.

We were behind them, and the non-walker using woman walks through the door, holds it open for the other woman, and then continues to hold it open for us. That’s right, here we were, two strapping young men (ok, maybe not “strapping young men,” but neither of us were using equipment to stay mobile) and this kind old woman was holding the door open for us. Of course we had already leaned forward to hold the door open for both of them, but she didn’t know that.

This to me was very cool. Here is a woman that would have every reason to not bother holding the door for two younger men, and no one would fault her for ignoring us and focusing on herself and her friend. And yet for her, her politeness was automatic. It was just in her nature to hold the door.

This should be a lesson to people who like to reference circumstances, moods, or external forces when they try to justify impolite behavior. Your behavior will fall back to what’s natural for you to do.

It’s nice to know the world isn’t all idiocy…:-)

About

By Avish Parashar. As the world's only Motivational Improviser, Avish uses techniques from the world of improv comedy to engage, entertain, and educate audiences on ideas around change, creativity, and motivation. Connect with Avish on Google+

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