"Why should I let him decide how I'm going to act?"

I recall a memorable lesson I learned from Chicago Daily News columnist Sydney J. Harris. He wrote: 

I walked with my friend, a Quaker, to the newsstand the other night, and he bought a paper, thanking the newsie politely. The newsie didn't even acknowledge it. 

"A sullen fellow, isn't he?" I commented. 

"Oh, he's that way every night," shrugged my friend. 

"Then why do you continue to be so polite to him?" I asked. 

"Why not?" inquired my friend. "Why should I let him decide how I'm going to act?" 

Dallin H. Oaks,  Brigham Young University on 17 January 1995 I learned from Chicago Daily News columnist Sydney J. Harris. He wrote: 

I walked with my friend, a Quaker, to the newsstand the other night, and he bought a paper, thanking the newsie politely. The newsie didn't even acknowledge it. 

"A sullen fellow, isn't he?" I commented. 

"Oh, he's that way every night," shrugged my friend. 

"Then why do you continue to be so polite to him?" I asked. 

"Why not?" inquired my friend. "Why should I let him decide how I'm going to act?" 

Dallin H. Oaks,  Brigham Young University on 17 January 1995