There is a story told that happened before/during the holocaust. There was a certain Jew (I think a Rav)in Germany who was careful to greet everyone he met. There was a certain goy whom he used to pass every morning, and he would always make sure to greet him, “gut morgen, Herr ____.”
World War II started, and the Rav was taken for selection, waiting to see if the nazi in charge would point him towards the gas chambers or towards life. When his turn came, he looked up and recognized the nazi as his former neighbor. “Gut Morgen, Herr___.” The nazi looked up, recongnized him, and pointed him towards life.
This story is always told to give over the message of the importance of greeting others.
But I always felt there was an incredible lesson in this story that I’m not sure if everyone gets.
We are not just talking about greeting others here. This man was a nazi, a rasha, a murderer, a horrible person!! We think it’s a Mitzvah to greet others because we should assume that everyone is a good person even if they are goyim,etc. But in this case, we know (now) that the guy was a horrible person. And yet the story is told over to show the importance of being nice to and greeting everyone.
The lesson I learned from the story is that it is always important to make a Kiddush Hashem and try to be nice to everyone no matter how awful they are (and I’m not saying it’s easy). You never know what harm you may be causing when you don’t act nicely to a goy (even if they deserve it), and you don’t know what good you can be causing when you do act nicely to a goy (even when they don’t seem to deserve it).