Seven Signs of the Lion

ALMOST NO ONE SAYS THANK YOU IF YOU DO SOMETHING NICE FOR THEM

ALMOST NO ONE SAYS THANK YOU IF YOU DO SOMETHING NICE FOR THEM

(EXCEPT YOUR FRIENDS)

That seemed to change a bit over time. Nicholas made a point of always thanking people in shops and cafés. Every once in a while he’d get a response. He held doors open for men, women and domesticated beasts, and received the politest response usually from the beasts, dogs that smiled a happy smile of gratitude. The entrance to the main building of the university was a particular problem for Nicholas. It had a single door open of its double doors with a constant flow of people coming in and out. At first Nicholas, through a lifetime of ingrained habit, would wait. But he learned that he would just keep waiting if he waited. He learned he couldn’t be polite and manage to enter the doors of the university to teach his classes. You had to simultaneously plow through the door sideways as people were coming from the opposite direction to force them to turn sideways and let you in. In his first two months there, he recalled holding the door open for an older woman who smiled at him and said “spasybi,” (thank you, that literally comes from the expression “praise be to God”). But she was the only one.

Your friends, of course, are a different story. Your friends here are always there for you. And always generous to beyond a fault. And always polite and caring and giving. It was one of the beautiful things he learned to love about the place. He learned that a place just isn’t a place. It’s the people.