| Michael Bulatovich 2007-06-17, 5:25 pm |
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"William ----Drawing with chalk on sidewalks That is known as
vandalism-George Conklin" <willbecool10@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:1182096707.233885.101100@n2g2000hse.googlegroups.com...
> On the way up from Chicago we stopped to see where my
> mom used to live in this small town
> and it amazed me how when we drove by other people in their cars they
> waved at us. I mean when Im walking down the sidewalks of Minneapolis
> in a small neighborhood you'll get a friendly hello from people who
> pass you by but never in cars. Thats most likly because you pass a lot
> of cars on a daily basis in Minneapolis but I will admit living in a
> small town is much friendlier then a big city. But if you read my
> latest comment in "Rural,Why its perfect" you will see how
> I love the city and appreciate a good rural area as well.
On the other hand....that story reminds me of another waving story. Before
our child attached herself to the uterine wall, my wife and I had a last
fling in DINKdom (Double Income No Kids) and rented an island with a cute
1920's cottage on it. The island sat in a narrows between two wider more
open sections of the lake.
Every couple minutes (literally, on a nice day) a motor boat would fly by
through the strait on one side of the island, often at far too great a rate
of speed for the local flora and fauna. (The other straight was too
shallow.) Without fail, the 'pilots' of these boats would wave at us if we
were sitting on our dock in the sun and looked up at the noise. Without
fail, for several days at least we would return these waves, even though
these people were strangers, and 50% of the traffic was the same 5 guys,
going way too fast, over and over.
After a while, we just wanted to sit on our deck, drink quietly, watch the
loons when they weren't dodging these idiots, and swim when it got too hot.
We began to resent having to wave back over and over. We started averting
our eyes when a motorboat approached. Then one day I failed to avert my
eyes. I can't remember if I was lost in thought over some book, or just
sloshed, but I remember being startled when an unreturned wave seamlessly
transformed into the "Trudeau Salute". http://tinyurl.com/25m6x5
Cultures may differ, but human nature seems the same everywhere.
--
MichaelB
www.michaelbulatovich.ca
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