It happens; you decide you would like nothing more than a doughnut and a pound of peas and you leave with two extra bags of crap. Annoying, but whatever. I tend to get carried away when it comes to fresh produce and nice cheeses.
But then I find myself waiting for the train in 90-degree heat, carrying a grocery bag on each arm and cursing my taste for good food. This business man butts in front of me just as the train pulls up, but whatever. I bite back my desire to tell him the Heavenly Father would not approve and take a seat behind him.
I then see these two quite beautiful North African women running to catch the train and I press the button to hold the door for them. They take seats in front of Mr. Business and proceed to have a lengthy, joyous conversation in what would seem to be their native tongue.
As the train rolls down the street, past the library and towards the middle of downtown, I find myself staring at them, admiring their beautiful headscarves (hijab). This is when Mr. Business, obviously made uncomfortable by these exotic people, leans back and says to me, I shit you not, "They should learn English."
I stare at him for a moment, horrified that this severely-sheltered white-bread-eater would have the gall to say something like that to a complete stranger in public. I can feel the back of my brain itching to introduce his face to my fist. (It is worth noting here that I have had almost no sleep in the last forty-eight hours and I am operating entirely on caffeine and spite) Instead, that clever demon that resides in a special corner of my brain takes over.
I frown at him and reply, "Je suis désolée, mais je ne parle pas anglais." ("I'm sorry, but I don't speak English")(It should also be noted that the previous French statement is written technically; the colloquial pronunciation varies more or less)
Lucky for me, the train pulls to my stop, and I exit, hopefully leaving that belligerently ignorant man-child horribly confused.
Thus is one of the most shocking problems our nation faces. We are so absorbed by our own small corners of existence that we neglect to really take note of those around us. Instead of seeing two fantastically-dressed Muslim women, this man saw Outsiders, people of another culture who refuse to conform. What he fails to recognize, however, is that English is not the technical native tongue for a large portion of the US's residents. Many of us are German, Spanish, Italian, French, Greek, et cetera. This kind of blind xenophobia is not only unsympathetic, it is hypocritical. Chances are good that we all have at least one ancestor whose origins were not in North America.
Did he need to share his personal views with me, a complete and total stranger who he neglected to take note of until I was convenient? Of course not, but he was seemingly so enamored with his own wit he felt the need to share.
Let us envision the situation, had he noticed me from the beginning. If I had taken his seat, and he took mine, I would have been free to sit by the women in question, and he would have been able to continue his existence in his pitifully-small bubble. If he's going to have irrational prejudices against people he doesn't know or bother to understand, why share that with me? Did he really think I would have anything beyond disdain for him? I can't help but suspect it wasn't about making an impression on me; it was about hearing his thoughts aloud, regardless of who they might offend.
It's like when I see someone at the store with a sandwich and Coke, and I have two weeks' worth of groceries. I let that person go before me in line because it is a way of making everyone's life a little bit better. When you demonstrate consideration of others, they (hopefully) will continue that act somewhere else. It benefits me personally to be courteous towards others.
So, do I have a moral to this story? Not particularly, because I try not to tell others how to live their lives(and I tend to fail at that, but moving on). But the next time you're getting in the elevator and you see someone running to catch it, maybe consider holding the door for them. Not because it's the "right thing to do," but maybe because you're going to affect someone else's day whether you act or not. Which impression would you rather leave with that person?