Recently, I noticed on my way to my third hour class, the same person at the bottom of the stairwell held the door open every day. For everyone. My first thought was that I had just realized this. That wasn’t true, though. I have seen him every day, and often, I’ll acknowledge him. He says, “you’re welcome,” when thanked, or smiles when smiled at. He’ll even do the classic nod when nodded at. It’s a kind thing to do. At first that’s all I thought it was.

One day I took a different staircase to third hour. The reason is unimportant, but I didn’t see the guy who holds the door open. And quite honestly, it felt weird. My day wasn’t disrupted, but I was somewhat saddened. The next day I passed him again and the bad feeling went away. He added some security to my life. He never quite helped me directly, I could always open the door, but he became a part of my daily habits. That moment of my day became an expectation. I will pass by him.

Habits are almost always a necessary part of our lives. They too, set up security in our lives. A typical definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting things to change. So, to reinforce our sanity, we do the same things, over and over again, and the results MUST be the same. We set up patterns that we follow to avoid the stress of too much change. Patterns and habits are our control in a changing world. Personal habits though, only provide stability for a small personal bubble. Tying your left shoe before your right won’t comfort your loss of a job or failing life. Life around you will always go on. This is the importance of our friend at the door. Interpersonal habits are our grasp of change. He is one of many points in my day that ground me from all the change. Maybe too in his life seeing the faces passing through the door have become an interpersonal habit for him. We all have networks of people during our days that guide us through our social life. A good morning on the bus. A morning announcement. A text after school. These create a web of interpersonal habits that create security in the lives around us. Maybe they even help to keep us sane.

So, thank you to the guy that holds the door open to the stairwell before third hour. You make my day, every day.