Excuse me, what planet am I on?

Earlier this evening, I was carrying a box of stuff to our basement store, accessible through another staircase. Outside, I was greeted by an approximately 10-year-old boy (give or take a few years) – who in Finland never talk to strangers unless they want something. So as he said “Hi! Where are you going?” my mind started racing – what’s it to him where I’m going? Does he want to get in the building? What for? To do something evil? Is he going to beg for something? What’s up with this kid? He must have something on his mind..

Before I could utter an answer, he clarifies “Which staircase?” and I mutter “Umm, B” while walking towards the door. So he whips out his key, opens the lock and holds the door open for me. Totally flabbergasted at this stage, I manage to say “thanks”. Next he cheerfully says “You’re welcome! Have a nice evening!” and luckily my reflex reply of “Thanks, you too!” works because other parts of my brain were trying to solve a mystery; what is this? Is this a trick of some kind? Why’s he being so nice? Am I on candid camera?

From my astonishment I finally came to the conclusion that he was just an abnormally nice kid. There was nothing wrong with him, there might not even have been any strange errors in the space-time-continuum – I had actually encountered an extroverted, polite & nice small person.

Sadly, it says something about the society when something as simple as a nice kid seems entirely out of place and a strange thing. Nice people should be the norm, shouldn’t they? Unfortunately, at least here, they’re not.