Hippo Camp

I like when people hold doors open for me. I've held the door open for many, many people over my life, and I've had the door held open for me a lot too, but there's nothing better than when you are a good five feet down the hall from the door and someone stands there and waits for you with it open. Granted, there's that initial pressure of that "Oh man, they're standing there waiting. I have to walk faster so that they don't have to wait too long..." feeling, but the people who are willing to stand there and hold doors open like that are clearly more relaxed than most.

I hate when people are a foot in front of you and won't even push the door open enough so that it falls slowly and you can catch it on the way in. Most of these instances are followed by a scowl, (or angry muttering depending on how little time they would have had to wait in order to pass the door off to the next person). Now, I'm guilty of this too. It happens. But I always cringe when I do it, and feel bad, as if I can feel that person's scowl burning into the back of my head.

I like the human brain. It's really cool. The space responsible for human memory in the brain is called the hippocampus. (And yes, I remember this clearly because it sounds like "hippo camp"). But I don't think the brain is necessarily responsible for why a person does something good like hold a door open for someone else. Granted, the learned instances of good behavior are stored there. How would anyone know, for instance, to hold a door open for someone if they were never taught that it was polite, or if they hadn't seen someone else do it before?

I'm more into the idea of the semi-vague explanation of conscience. Nobody can point out a specific place on the body where the conscience is (unless they have a Jiminy Cricket tattoo). Most people if you ask them will probably point to the region of their lower torso, i.e. their stomach or their gut, maybe their belly button. But they can't tell you exactly what it's connected to like veins to the heart, or the brain to the spine, or exactly what its physical function is. But it's there. When I forget to hold the door, "ouch" there it is, right in my gut, saying "Hey, you really should have held that door open."

I think the conscience is responsible for moral decisions that make you do good, and it provides a deep sense of compassion for doing good.