Day 15 · Hospitality
Do not automate the stranger out of the room.
A system is usually designed around the familiar case. The person without the expected language, history, documents, money, body, or access appears later as an exception—and pays for the convenience of everyone else.
The source
Thou shalt neither vex a stranger, nor oppress him: for ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 22:21 · King James Version
The thought
Hospitality is not sentiment. It is the discipline of building enough room for someone who did not help design the room. A tool becomes more just when the unfamiliar person can enter without surrendering dignity or pretending to belong already.
A task for today
Test one decision from the position of a newcomer. Remove one requirement that exists only because insiders already know how to satisfy it.
Sources
Exodus 22:21 · Hierocles, On Appropriate Acts — widen the circles of concern · Universal Declaration of Human Rights, Article 2 — rights without status-based exclusion · Qur’an 4:36 — care for the neighbor and the traveler
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