In reading the letter to your newspaper about "Courtesy," it reminded me of numerous incidents here in Pennsylvania where, whenever I happened to be either entering or leaving a building, I always try to hold the door open for a person, of any age or gender, who would either be going into the place, or coming out of the door right behind me.Just a few weeks ago, I was leaving a business as a woman was coming up to enter the building; so I held the door for her. It was her response which surprised me as she said, "That's something you don't see anymore!"
There is no reason, whatsoever, not to be thoughtful of another person, no matter what is happening at a given moment. Some time back, an elderly woman was leaving a business. As she walked into the parking lot, she tripped on a "speed bump," which she failed to notice. At this point, several individuals (including this one) hurried over to help her up and make certain that she was okay. She was just a little shaken up, but otherwise unhurt.
In another incident a few years earlier, while driving home from a church in York County with my family, we were eastbound on U.S.30 and just crossed the county line into Lancaster when a car in the westbound lane veered off the highway and went into a ditch. I was one of several drivers who pulled off the road to check on the driver who turned out to have been temporarily distracted, which caused her to run off the road. Thankfully, her car did not flip over, despite the incline she found herself heading for.
We each have only one life upon this world, and no one is expendable. Every person should, at the least, show others some sense of decency and civility, concern and caring. To do anything less is selfish, and actually diminishes a persons' own sense of purpose, if not their own reason for living. To be thus is simply a waste of one's own life.
