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