Showing Courtesy

Driving over to Gervais, to get my car serviced this AM, I stopped short of the light at Rogers and Lawrence (and just past Merrill Street and Jolene Dubner Park) and let a chap with a pickup truck back out of his driveway. He then headed down Rogers Street, past me. Did he wave or give some other sign of recognition and thanks? Not at all. Maybe he thought I was just his patsy. Maybe he was fully occupied driving his mini-monster pickup. Maybe he was just a rude and arrogant person. Pick one.

But, returning home and going to check mail at the Post Office, I stopped on Arcand Dr to let a car into traffic. The lady driving waved to me. My guess is she grew up during the Great Depression. It did make up for that clod of a pickup truck driver.

But, how we act in public is important to our society. I was struck by this item in Amanda Ripley's blog (hat tip, as usual, to the Instapundit). Titled "How to behave in a Plane Crash," it suggests that in an emergency, people tend to bond and show courtesy. There is a lot of good news in that theory. Ms Ripley says:

The truth is, in almost every disaster I have studied, people treat each other with kindness and respect. Violence and panic are extremely rare. An instant camraderie springs up between strangers--on a sinking ship or a bombed-out subway car. That is the rule, not the exception.

To what does she attribute this? From her words at the end of the post, it seems to be innate instincts that have worked well over the millennia.

Why don’t we turn into raving maniacs? Because it is in our interest to be nice to each other. Under threat, we need each other more than ever.

So, who is Amanda Ripley to pontificate? She is the author of The Unthinkable:  Who Survives When Disaster Strikes—And Why. She is a graduate of Cornell, with a BA, and a reporter, including for Time Magazine.

Regards  --  Cliff