Famous Courtesy

Like a seedling being uprooted from its natural ground, I was forced to find comfort in the yield of other kinds of foreign soil—soil that contained strange brambles, weeds, stones and other insects. I had to grin and tolerate the asphyxiation that comes with the bizarre environment, that out-of-place feeling always present among those who’ve found themselves lost. Through these uprooting, because, yes—I’ve been blown over for countless of times and driven out from one home to another for that elusive greener grass, I’ve always found one comfort in one familiar entity. That entity comes in a form that most disciplined and courteous people know so well: courtesy. However absent chivalry might be, courtesy is still ever living in the hearts of the people—the people who have time and breath enough to recognize it. For example, courtesy dictates that we must hold the door for other people. That is the kind of tribute I always try to pay for Lady Courtesy. When someone is at least 4 seconds behind me, I always wait and hold the door for them. Even if a door knob contains virus and germs, courtesy must always be paid. Which isn’t that much of a payment if the other person you held the door for gave that fickle thanks. Because it’s implied—as it was implied a hundred years ago—that courtesy must always be recompensed with the words “Thank you” and “You’re welcome.” These two phrases are basic necessities just like breathing but it is these phrases that have been branded as unnecessary in some people’s minds. Saying these phrases is a part of courtesy. It is the uncouth individual who doesn’t use these phrases.
Another form of courtesy, a courtesy that is exercised among Smith residents, is also unnoticed until now. That courtesy is whittled in the contour of stairs. Tolerating the stairs in Watterson is a very painful experience, the kind of necessary evil one must endure in order to be viewed as a human being who isn’t too lazy to take the elevators—especially among Smith residents living on the third floor. Among the Watterson residents, living in Smith doesn’t equal taking the elevators. Heaven and the mighty earth forbid that the Smith residents might claim the rightful opportunity of using the elevators when they are so graciously provided for. But for courtesy’s sake, I take the stairs—6 flight of stairs made up of 12 rungs each. That’s a total of 72 rungs of stairs that Smith residents need to take for every elevator flight….