Your plane lands late. You have a tight connection. When you see a group of people stand up and rush to the front as soon as your plane reaches the gate, what is your first thought? Why can they cut the line? Why shouldn't I also rush up to make my connection? How do some people get away with this?

My rule of thumb is regardless of what is rude or acceptable, regardless of where society draws the line, I hold myself to a higher standard. We can debate when it's okay to cut the line to deboard, but ultimately the higher standard I hold myself to means even given a tight connection, I stand by the seating order.

The higher standard applies to all aspects of life: ethics, work ethic, values, and standards we hold. The amount we exercise. How we eat. The pride we take in our work. How we treat others. How generous we are. If common human decency is the bar, why should that be the minimum we strive to achieve?

By extension, having a higher bar means I am less reactive when others have moral or ethical failures. I don't condone them because they don't meet whatever standards I feel are righteous. In fact, I hold myself to a higher standard of empathy and unreactivity. Rather than make a scene deboarding, I share empathy and realize tight connections are a major source of anxiety for people. The recognition that my bar is not everyone's bar makes me less upset, even when others don't make the common decency bar.

I do worry posting this makes me seem self-righteous. I am not elite or better than others because I hold myself to a higher standard; I am simply striving to be the best me. In fact, I hold myself to a high standard to remain grounded and humble. I am far from perfect. I often fall short of my bar and I often fall short of acting with basic human decency. But by keeping my threshold higher, I believe I act with basic human decency more often than if basic human decency was my threshold. My hope in writing this is that others strive to raise their bar, and in turn improve their lives in the aggregate.