Politeness

It has been a month since I last blogged.

A lot has happened. Most of them too private to be blogged though.

I had done a lot of thinking. I have to make yet another big decision soon.

Oh well, that's not what I am here for.

The Reader's Digest latest Politeness Survey of different cities around the world is.

Though it is an admittedly unscientific survey, it got me thinking people in certain cities behave in certain ways.

The lower ranking cities then to be very densely populated cities, where if you hold the door open for the next person, you may end up standing there all day because of the constant flow of people.

A regular scene in Hong Kong comes to mind. At busy subway stations, passengers often have to crowd with some 100 or so people, who all trying to get on one escalator at the same time. However, there are no pushing or yelling. Everybody just try to move slowly towards the entrance and letting people go first, when appropriate. It may not look very polite per se, but it proves to be the most efficient way of doing so. Yielding when needed, nothing excessive. Of course, when a disabled person approaches, everybody yields. Is this politeness? I would think it is. People probably don't show it, but they are polite.

New Yorkers are the most polite? They are all business over there, so why not? They must appear to be so for their own good.