Thank you, kind stranger. Thank you for waiting and awkwardly holding the door open for me. Thank you for providing an understanding chuckle when you see me start to hustle when I notice you holding the door open. My polite “thank you” will never be enough to show my appreciation, because holding the door is just the physical action. The means behind it is what makes all the difference.
I couldn't tell you how many times I've been scurrying up to the door, and the inconsiderate person in front of me decides it would be in mine and their best interests to let the door slam in my face. I also couldn't tell you how many times I've held the door open for others, and I receive no recognition or gracious offering following my act of kindness, urging me to respond with a "You're welcome, your majesty." Put best by Ellen Degeneres in "Here and Now."
But, you ...you see a line of people behind you, and you have to make a conscious decision in a very short period of time. You can keep walking, (which I could never look down upon you for … I don’t know what you have going on in your busy day), you could wait there for however long it takes for the line of pedestrians to walk through the door or until someone relieves you from your depreciated position. You, my friend, chose the second option. This means that not only are you willing to put those pedestrians ahead of yourself, but you humbly stood there, making the day of every person who walked through the door.
This provides for a second decision to be made. If the line of pedestrians was longer than you expected, do you stay? Do you go? The decision can be a tricky one, because it seriously cuts into your time. Either way, thank you from a stranger to a stranger for the gracious, kindhearted offering of holding the door for me. I’ll definitely pass on the kindness.
So for the last time, thank you for your decision to stay and wait for me to make my way up to the door. However, what if every person in the line says “Thank you?" Do you respond to each pedestrian’s notion of graciousness? That’s a topic for another time, I believe.
Courtesy of the Huffington Post, “In terms of usefulness, holding the door open for someone falls somewhere between gesundheit and helping a person cross the street.” Thank you for taking part, and being a humble door holder.
