I waited all day
I waited all day for a visitor and finally, this afternoon, he stopped by. We had encountered each other three times over the past couple of weeks, and given the election results, I knew he’d come and find me.
We first met about three weeks ago. I was heading out for a ride, dressing in my cal kit, my bike on my shoulder as I descended the stairs. An old man, the thick glasses wearing, somewhat rumpled type you usually find in physics labs, was coming up the stairs. He gave me a somewhat surprised expression followed by, “Aren’t you athletic!”. I mumbled something and continued down the stairs, only to be stopped by, “But why do you wear all those advertisements?! I hate how everyone wears advertisements these days. Its all about money! . . .” and his protesting continued as I tried to explain that I was a student, it was my team’s jersey, we were poor. He wasn’t convinced, but luckily, I had reached the bottom of the stairs and was free to leave.
The next day he saw me coming out of my office and took the opportunity to apologize to me. In halting English he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean personal offense. Where are you from?” I responded, in french, that I was American. “American. I like Americans individually,” he replied, “But your government . . .” And that spawned a tirade in French on Bush, the American public, and our hypocritical, completely non secular government. I agreed with him on most points, disputed him on others, but didn’t get much of a chance to respond to his torrent of generalized accusations.
About a week or so went by without any encounters. Then, one afternoon, he walked into my office and declared that I had to watch a program on France3, one of the national TV stations, that night because there was going to be a special on American and Iraq. “It will tell you the real truth” he said.
So today I was waiting for the tirade to begin. He walked into my office and said nothing, just looked at me. I prompted him with, “It is a dark day”, and off he went. I didn’t understand all of what he said but I caught the following. The US is in a sad state. The American people are uneducated and moronic. They are ruled by religious fanatics. Although he is not an islamist, he assured me, he wants Bush to be kicked out of Iraq. Who knows what countries are going to be next . . . and the list went on. He wasn’t accusing me of being one of the uneducated masses. He spoke to me as if I was a soul close to salvation who didn’t quite understand the full import of the state of my nation. He left with some comment about at least with Bush as President, France wouldn’t be expected to agree with him.
Later this afternoon, I left my office just at the same time that he was walking down the hall. We walked in silence for a few seconds and then he turned to me. “I’m getting married for the third time. This January. But not to an American. To a Russian. And she is beautiful!”
We first met about three weeks ago. I was heading out for a ride, dressing in my cal kit, my bike on my shoulder as I descended the stairs. An old man, the thick glasses wearing, somewhat rumpled type you usually find in physics labs, was coming up the stairs. He gave me a somewhat surprised expression followed by, “Aren’t you athletic!”. I mumbled something and continued down the stairs, only to be stopped by, “But why do you wear all those advertisements?! I hate how everyone wears advertisements these days. Its all about money! . . .” and his protesting continued as I tried to explain that I was a student, it was my team’s jersey, we were poor. He wasn’t convinced, but luckily, I had reached the bottom of the stairs and was free to leave.
The next day he saw me coming out of my office and took the opportunity to apologize to me. In halting English he said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean personal offense. Where are you from?” I responded, in french, that I was American. “American. I like Americans individually,” he replied, “But your government . . .” And that spawned a tirade in French on Bush, the American public, and our hypocritical, completely non secular government. I agreed with him on most points, disputed him on others, but didn’t get much of a chance to respond to his torrent of generalized accusations.
About a week or so went by without any encounters. Then, one afternoon, he walked into my office and declared that I had to watch a program on France3, one of the national TV stations, that night because there was going to be a special on American and Iraq. “It will tell you the real truth” he said.
So today I was waiting for the tirade to begin. He walked into my office and said nothing, just looked at me. I prompted him with, “It is a dark day”, and off he went. I didn’t understand all of what he said but I caught the following. The US is in a sad state. The American people are uneducated and moronic. They are ruled by religious fanatics. Although he is not an islamist, he assured me, he wants Bush to be kicked out of Iraq. Who knows what countries are going to be next . . . and the list went on. He wasn’t accusing me of being one of the uneducated masses. He spoke to me as if I was a soul close to salvation who didn’t quite understand the full import of the state of my nation. He left with some comment about at least with Bush as President, France wouldn’t be expected to agree with him.
Later this afternoon, I left my office just at the same time that he was walking down the hall. We walked in silence for a few seconds and then he turned to me. “I’m getting married for the third time. This January. But not to an American. To a Russian. And she is beautiful!”
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