Politeness is the fundamental making-room-ness for the existence, the thoughts, feelings, actions, and idiosyncrasies, of others. Can you give up too much territory? Yes. Sometimes you need to defend your space and resist the encroachment of others. But politeness is what prevents everything from becoming a fight. It’s a ritual that allows space within proximity, dignity and sovereignty granted to others in a shared space.

Alternatively, you could just be alone, then your sovereignty over your territory would be absolute. Or you could dominate everyone around you. But both are difficult and costly. Humans are social animals. Social animals have rituals and systems that allow individuals to inhabit cooperative and competitive shared spaces. And that’s a pretty impressive trick.