IT HAPPENED AGAIN the other day: as I was pulling up to the gas station and getting out, I noticed another person getting out of their vehicle too.

We made eye contact. It was on.

The feeling started its incline in my stomach. Which one of us was going to get to the door first?

I started going over the situation in my head.

Should I speed up and get there first? Nip the situation in the bud. I could slow down, but that is the first sign of defeat.

As a last resort, I could pull the old ‘I have to tie my shoe trick,’ and then I won’t have to worry about anything.

In case you̢۪re still wondering, I am talking about the age-old tradition of holding the door open for someone. I am not looking for chivalry, just a little show of some manners. It seems like today̢۪s world has misplaced them in their hurried effort to always be first, always get ahead of at least one person in line.

Does it really matter? I guess it does in theory. But really? Maybe you̢۪ll check out five seconds faster than you would have. Congratulations.

I am not a staunch feminist; I don̢۪t care if it is a male holding a door for a female or the other way around. A male holding for another male? Even better.

It is not just at groceries stores, gas stations or restaurants either. Sadly, our selfish attempt to get ahead of the next person occurs on the road as well. This is not only scary, but also is extremely dangerous.

We have been so callous in our efforts to get ahead that we are unknowingly willing to pay any price.

An Associated Press survey recently released reported almost 70 percent of respondents as saying that people are ruder than they were 20 or 30 years ago.

If you really want examples, it probably happens to you nearly every day on campus. We̢۪re too lazy to walk 10 feet, so we would rather play speed racer with our cars to get a parking space that much closer.

Honestly, no matter what, we̢۪re walking a distance from some parking area. Let̢۪s just get used to it already. Consider it your daily exercise. Our numbers are skyrocketing in regards to obesity and diabetes, but that is a topic for another day.

Manners and etiquette are obviously an important enough topic for people to tackle because Judith Martin, a.k.a. Miss Manners has been making a living telling people what is considered impolite and what is socially acceptable for years. She writes a daily advice column that is distributed to more than 200 papers worldwide.

Miss Manners makes a good argument about the reasons we even do anything nice in the first place. She says it is far more impressive when others discover your good qualities without your help.

She has a point — it does seem like the only time you see someone doing something nice is either when someone else is watching or if that person has something to gain from it.

Doing something nice without reason or provocation can actually feel nice? Weird.

Our society is trying to be the best in every way.

We are trying to look younger, have a tighter body, drive a bigger car and have the nicest house.

We are so far gone with concerns about ourselves that we have forgotten one of the only real ways to connect with people.

Simple: Politeness. Manners.

Who knows? The next time you prop the door open for that person, or hold the elevator, you might spark a revolution.

The nice kind.