Open-Door Policy

It’s not an uncommon sight at the World Trade Center: an elderly person struggling to make their way through a lobby’s revolving doors as a broad-shouldered villain in chalk stripe shuffles behind, getting by on the residuals wrought of others’ efforts, yet again. It is also not uncommon to see the doors creak to a halt, trapping up to three people, who shoot accusatory glances through tempered glass at one another for committing the sin of presumptuousness. These contraptions, invented at least in part to do away with the sometimes-awkward etiquette of entering high-traffic buildings, and to save on the heating bill, demand that each make their own way. This individualism wrapped in the pretense of efficiency is the perfect metaphorical baptism for those entering an office building bolstered by the sleekness of automated doors and key-fobbed gates. I get that touching physical things is becoming a bit passé—in the spirit of transparency, I get a kick out of making it to my desk at 4 WTC with the last thing I touched being my front door in Brooklyn—but part of making…