One of America's best attributes

I was reminded this morning, on the way to work, of one of our--America's--best traits and that is our collective, group politeness.

A traffic light was out just East of the Plaza today, on 47th Street, and it was flashing yellow for us (on 47th) and red for the North/South traffic.

And do you know what everyone was doing?

Instead of the 47th Street people just going slowly through, as the traffic regulations allow, everyone was stopping and letting the opposite, through traffic go first.

Sure, I know, part of this was safety but I also give some credit to just sheer manners.

I learned this years ago, on the mountain slopes of Colorado. We all were lining up, ever so quietly and politely, as is still done, to this day, to get on the ski lifts.

I was told then that, in Europe, it's not uncommon for people to just pretty much push their way through, to the shortest and quickest routes to the lift, not unlike Italian traffic, I've also heard.

And sure, you can run into rude people at different times here in the States but I think they are, thankfully and up to now, the minority.

So here's one for us, America. Keep up being polite, positive and pleasant.