Doorways

Opening the door and walking through. It's a constant problem every time a doorway appears, there are only two people, and one person has to walk through before the other. What's at stake? If you politely hold the door open and wait for your companion are you the victor? Or is victory achieved by walking through and modestly thanking your acquaintance for their supple act of door holding? Who knows! Who knows who wins in these situations, perhaps no one wins, maybe everyone loses every time a doorway appears and people must walk through, the only solution being for one person to open the door and walk through while the other waits for it to close again before opening it and walking through on their own. Maybe the glass should simply be smashed and both parties should enter at the same time, cutting themselves in the process, their spilling blood a sign of their mutual trust and recognition. If there is no glass, an axe, an axe is required to break down that door, each participant taking turns chopping, the one with the final chop winning, the victorious leader, the hands down champion, the irrefutable receptacle of applause and cheer, delicately minding his or her splinters with authoritative and supreme confidence.

Before moving on.

Either way, it was funny watching my roommate and her nemesis refuse to walk through a doorway first last Friday, each graciously offering the other the option of being the first to pass through. Rather than walking through the doorway in order to gain access to the balcony, both preferred to remain indoors, with the doorway open, continuing their conversation while I froze outside and cold air continuously entered our flat. For me, this was a precious moment in the history of door opening and I thought that it should be blogged so that others could learn from its dexterity. For indeed there were two victors that evening when in every other doorway opening situation everyone loses always maybe.

Brought a tear to my eye.