boxes – Observations and Misunderstandings

I’ve gone and taken up a new hobby. It involves fishing. Not me fishing of course, I tried that once and as I didn’t immediately master it, I dropped it from things I might do twice. It does turn out though that I’m really good at sitting in my car and watching others fish. I mentioned the other day about my surprise at seeing a relatively young and attractive woman fishing, it turns out I was correct as she was an anomaly but as I’m not here to watch women I don’t mind. I have no idea what anyone is saying and know they look at me slightly bemused, perhaps they even discuss who this strange tourist in his car watching them is. Perhaps they don’t give a shit. This being Greece they likely don’t give a shit.

I’ve so far not seen anyone catch anything. I’ve also not spent hours sitting and watching so likely that’s more of a reason than much else. It got exciting once when it looked as if I was about to witness my first catch but all that happened was someone caught their other line. As I write that sentence it makes me think I should probably go out and make some friends. Relative excitement shall we say.

It could be that it’s just fun relaxing by the sea. I know I’m sitting in the car but genuinely I quite enjoy sitting in cars by places. I don’t always feel it necessary to get out. What am I going to do, walk around for a bit, stand somewhere and watch or maybe even sit somewhere and watch. At least I’ve got my comfy car seat and a holder for my beer. It’s much easier to sit with the laptop and write this in a car too. Maybe I should get a chair like the fishermen and sit beside my car. I might feel the necessity to buy a fishing rod then though and that would change the entire nature of this experience. When I get bored and need an upgrade maybe.

One of the fishermen is vigorously making himself a frappe and watching me. This is Greece after all, nosey bastards. It’s really hard making national stereotypes when everyone acts as they feel fit. Perhaps that can be a Greek stereotype, doing whatever the hell they want. Why must we take the unknown out of the world by putting people in boxes though. The unknown is scary I guess, it makes us feel safe to box it up. Like being scared of the dark, the unknown without lights. If we can box an entire people then what can be safer than that. It seems a little ignorant though, and I can say that as someone who has done that far too often in the past. It might just turn out people are people. What a whole new world of discovery that would involve. But anyway, enough of this. Back to the fishing.

I must begin with a retraction. I suggested I was hooted, or claxoned, at by two cars yesterday and that I thought not only were the two people being arseholes, that they must surely have been locals too. I was aware that I may have been jumping to conclusions but I was in the mood to do it anyway. It turns out then that I was wrong. One of the guys in the bakery today asked me if I realised it was him hooting at me and it turns out the second incident, the one I enjoyed, not the one which involved the road rage, was not as it first seemed. Probably not as I interpreted it would me more fitting. It’s amazing how often two people can experience the same situation in completely different ways, or people take offence to someones manner when the other person is oblivious to what they were doing. In this incident I jumped to the conclusion it was some ignorant local being an idiot but really there was only one idiot there, the guy from the bakery obviously. Let’s hope I learnt something from yesterday or the only conclusion can be that there is but one arsehole.

I’m trying to think what if anything else I can retract from previous pieces. Surely in over two hundred and fifty pieces I’ve talked a lot of shit, but how much of it was inaccurate and ignorant. The title of this whole blog suggests I misunderstand many things so not only am I likely to have talked a lot of shit over these months but the hooting incident above suggests I’m simply living up to the expectations of the name. I make observations – locals are idiots – I make misunderstandings – it turns out they’re not.

I was listening to something on woke people and anti-woke people today. I would rather eat my own toes than class myself as either of those two things but what they were discussing was the absolutist stances both sides take and while their targets may change their methods and understanding, for example good guys and bad guys, was very similar. Almost dogmatic like religion. I could criticise them but judging by yesterdays incident I’m no different. To generalise a whole group of people, who have done me no actual harm that I know of, and blame this whole group for the actions of one person is just utterly ridiculous. Why do we do it. Why do I do it. To make sense of the world? Am I that simplistic? Are such crude boxes required for my mind to be comfortable. People are ridiculous. I am ridiculous. But I’m human. And fallible. As is life.

Tag: boxes

Fishing

Being Human