Close a window, open a door
He didn’t know it, but Rizal was leaving Europe for the last time. He was going home one way or the other. He left Marseilles on 18 October 1891 on board the SS Melbourne. Gregorio F Zaide tells the story (Jose Rizal: Life, Works And Writings, 2003: 174): There were 80 first-class passengers – mostly Europeans, including two Spaniards who were going to Amoy. Rizal was the only Asian among them. xxx Among the passengers were several German ladies who were having their dinner. Rizal was with them on the same table. One of the ladies said in German to her companion: ‘If this man in front of me is a gentleman, he would close the window of the porthole.’ ¶ Hearing her remarks, Rizal rose, close the porthole, and resumed his seat. Then he conversed in fluent German with the surprised German ladies. Since then they treated him with admiration and respect, for they had learned a lesson that a brown-skinned Asian could speak German well and be a cultured gentleman.

When you close someone else’s window, someone will open a door for you.