The door: It lets you in or shuts you out

The door: It lets you in or shuts you out

JAKARTA (JP): No, I don't have the slightest idea who invented
the door. Nor do I know who first put doors in their homes. I
could only guess that even the caves where Fred and Barnie and
their families lived had bathroom doors, since I could never
envision myself using a bathroom that has no door.

In the civilized world, a door is needed to give ourselves
some privacy. At the same time, it also helps us avoid offending
others.

In days past, I'm sure doors were also needed to prevent wild
animals from entering houses and feeding on their occupants.
During freezing winter times, doors were needed to stop the cold
wind from entering people's homes. Doors were also needed to keep
burglars and other baddies away. That is still true today.

A door also marks a limit. When you come to my house, I will
decide whether or not to open the door for you. If I don't, it
means that I'm not letting you in and you'd better not try to
open it yourself or force your way in. Trespassing may get you a
lot of trouble -- unless, of course, you live in Indonesia.

In moving vehicles, doors are needed to keep passengers and
their luggage from falling out onto the streets. Recently in
Jakarta, public transport vehicles were required to close their
doors the moment the vehicles set off, although the end result
was to put passengers inside a Turkish bath rather than giving
them extra safety.

Fortunately, like most other discipline drives in this
country, the regulation didn't hold together very long and people
can once again breathe moving -- albeit still polluted -- air in
those Kopajas and Mikrolets.

In air-conditioned buildings, glass doors are used to keep the
cool air inside and the hot, stuffy air outside. And heavy glass
doors also effectively filter humans according to their wealth.

If you have very little credit left in your MasterCard, I bet
you'd hesitate to enter the glass doors of any Louis Vuitton, St.
Laurent, Bally, Esprit, or Giorgio Armani store, wouldn't you?
But you wouldn't hesitate if there were no doors, even if you
don't have any cash or any credit cards in your wallet or purse.
You see how powerful the doors are? They let only the right
people in and keep most of the wrong people out.

Doors can be an effective tool of communication, too. Angry
wives and desperate husbands slam the door to let the other party
know more precisely how they feel.

One day I did get a lot of enjoyment from slamming my front
door at a group of people who, after spraying my yard with some
mosquito repellent of questionable origin, asked me to pay Rp
10,000 for their unsolicited service.

Perhaps most important of all, doors can help you show respect
to others and -- at the same time -- demonstrate your own good
manners.

When I was still a small child, my father taught me to open
the car door for guests, which he said was a respectful way to
welcome them. I was also taught to close the door for our guests
after they got seated inside their car and ready to leave, and he
said that was a respectful way to say farewell.

During the years I lived overseas, I also learned that, after
passing through a springed door -- the one that closes
automatically -- I should hold it open for the person right
behind me if there happens to be one. He or she would immediately
take the door handle and thank me for keeping the door open for
him. This person would then hold the door open for the next
person, who would in turn take over the handle and thank him.

This relay of pleasantries would go on until the last person
had passed through the door.

Try doing it here in Jakarta, and you'll be surprised to see
how people will just breeze through, squeezing their way through
the opening that you're helping to create, without touching the
door handle and without thanking you for holding the door open
for them.

You have become their doorman. This is just another example of
modernity being adopted much faster than the etiquette that goes
with it. Should there be ten people behind you, you'll end up
holding the door open for all ten of them and none of them will
even look you in the eye -- let alone say "Terima kasih."

I once did receive a truly warm "Thank you" for holding the
door open for somebody else, though. However, judging from his
English and his behavior, that elderly man who thanked me for
holding the door must have been educated by the Dutch. Well, at
least that was what I thought, since I couldn't think of any
other reason for the unusual experience that I had.

On top of it all, nothing is more interesting than the
elevator doors. It's not because they get stuck so frequently or
refuse to close in the first place. Rather, it's because we get
guillotined by them so often and can't help wondering why on
earth they seem to close so quickly.

We all know that today's elevators have a rudimentary silicone
intelligence built into them. The doors make sure that everybody
is on board before they start closing themselves gently. Well,
unless someone tells them to close a little bit too early, that
is. So if your leg gets caught in the elevator doors, please
understand that this is because the "android" that stepped into
the elevator before you automatically presses the "Close" button
-- without bothering to turn around to check if, by any chance,
some human being behind him wants to use the elevator too.

Unfortunately, as we have more and more high-rise buildings in
this city, we also have more and more of these mindless
"androids" around. And they are very well-dressed, complete with
ties and handphones. I know this, because one of them squashed me
in the elevator doors only today.

-- Zatni Arbi