Hold the door open for someone
This one I had to think because I normally hold the door open automatically without much thought. But working from home for half the week means one does not always have an opportunity. And then I remembered that I held the door open for a young boy as we were boarding the elevator of our apartment complex today morning.
So that was my "Hold the door open for someone" activity for the day.
Source: Image is linked directly from Open.Ai store. Image is created by me using DALL.E engine.
Impact and a story
This kind act did not have as much of an impact as yesterday's probably cause I have got so used to doing it. However there is an interesting story that comes to mind and it has to do with social structure, population density, and overall manners.
My dad taught me to open doors for women, elders, children whenever possible to help them. We did not have a car when I was young so never learned about car doors. However generally speaking people did not hold doors for strangers, especially in offices, or public places. Of course holding an elevator door open so that they don't miss it, or holding a bus door open so that they can jump in is normal. But the general thing I saw in UK where every door one passed through one held open for the person following, was not a done thing in Mumbai or Pune.
I feel it has to do with the population density. In normal activities most of these doors were forever open due to the amount of footfall through it. So the action of opening a door and moving on, and not stopping to cause a jam, was a very utilitarian and practical way.
However I was by then 6 months in the UK before I returned back. And other than learning Cheers (which has become a habit) and TA(which i had to let go) the one habit I picked up in UK was to hold the door open.
So cut scene to my second or third day back in my office. We come up from the cafeteria after lunch and it felt like the entire office of more than 800 people were all passing through a specific corridor dividing the open spaces from the working area. I step through the glass door, and turn around to hold it open for the next person. The person steps through and does not take over the door from me. And then the next group passes through, and then the next, and next. It felt like a lifetime, but must have been closer to 4-5 mins, where I had the door open and people were just walking through without even looking at me 😂 By rights, I should have got angry, but for some reason I just found it really funny. And reminded me I am back home. Finally there was a gap and I could let go of the door and go my merry way.
I surprised myself that day. Normally I would have just noted that it is more practical to not do it in crowded environments and stopped the habit. But I did not. And as you can see from my pomposity I am very proud of it. Probably not of the act itself, as it is but a very simple thing to do. I think what I am proud of is that I did not go with the flow but rather did what I thought was right. For a person who loved disappearing into the background this was a major milestone.
Of course this habit gave my colleagues in UK a lot of problems too. Their basic upbringing could not allow for not holding the door open for the next person coming in, and office security expressly forbade them to holds the door open for anyone. It was quite a challenge for quite some time about it 😂
Challenge details
Anyways simple action today but I hope you enjoyed the post nonetheless. Be happy spread kindness. To highlight what it is about I am quoting from my post yesterday, hope it helps you to try and partake of this wonderful challenge,
My mate
introduced many of us to an initiative he runs called Kindness week (this is just for my blog readers, the Kindness community already knows about this :) ) It seems like an interesting and positive activity to do.
To read more about the Kindness week challenge as well as a general primer on why the act of kindness could be healthy for us, check out Greg's post on the matter.
The challenge itself is best shown by the poster created by Greg which is pointed to from below:
Image Source : The image is directly from Greg's blog, used with his permission.
Also don't forget to check out Greg's post yesterday welcoming everyone to Kindness week @gregscloud/welcome-to-kindness-week-2024
He highlights levels of kindness that we can get involved in. Starting with the simple ones we this week to more involved ones.
Cheers!