Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-SmithMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
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29 May 2011
25 May 2011
A Bit of Kindness (philosophy)
I am an extremely reserved person, so when somebody offers me an umbrella while I'm standing in the rain, I naturally want to say "no, thank you". You would be correct to say I am insane and overly reserved, but there you are. My brain was filled with the necessary obligations of social grace. We would have to banter lightly, return it with thanks, and continue bantering when appropriate throughout the visit to Newgrange and Knowth. As cold as that sounds, my brain immediately went to that and decided it was too tired to want to deal with such things, especially since getting Eric all to myself was a rare treat.
Of course Eric accepted the umbrella. He doesn't filter everything nearly as concisely with pre-determined outcomes.
Sometimes I need to turn my brain off.
Yes, the banter occurred. However, they were such nice people, I found it easy to do so. No posturing or travel comparisons. No suggestions that two American couples finding themselves at one of the most popular tourist locations of ancient culture was ironic. No Facebook connections, which while it is a social networking group, I am often amazed at the lack of connection people have to accept a Facebook friend.
They were simply very nice people who were of similar mindset and enjoyed traveling. The banter was intelligent and un-restrained, but I wasn't bothered to part ways. Umbrella returned, and back into my safe lovely shell.
The next day I excitedly whisk Eric off to the Hill of Tara and other such similar ancient sites. Yes, it's raining, and we're both starved, so we head to the little coffee shoppe that I fell in love with during my last visit just at the bottom of the Hill.
I walk in to look down at the table (seeing Eric is surprised) only to find the umbrella gentleman. While we had only traded first names at the end of Newgrange yesterday, it suddenly seemed very nice to know his name at this completely un-awkward meeting. It was a pleasant bumping into... He informed me that his wife was in the shoppe and I bustled off, finding all sorts of lovelies for Elle, and naturally meeting up with his wife. We chatted about cupcakes and the return of their popularity.
All of it was quite nice. Neither couple was bound to each other's whims or expectations, but simply maintained an ability to have a conversation at two different locations in Ireland, and then a final wave (though we did not know it) in the medieval graveyard next to the ancient one.
Eric made a very good point. "We would have been standing here awkwardly waiting for our bagels and tea hoping for the couple at the table to be leaving; rather we enjoyed conversation with two extremely nice people in this place where we know no-one, and got to borrow an umbrella to boot."
I really couldn't argue. I told my brain to stop over-analysing everything, and enjoy people more. Yes, there will be the idiots, but what do we lose by keeping up a guard against the inevitable idiots that usually get past the guard anyway?
The gentleman took Eric's email address. Whether we here from them or not, we'll see. I definitely wouldn't mind bumping into them again and enjoying a cupcake. If not, we had a lovely bumping into in Ireland.
Of course Eric accepted the umbrella. He doesn't filter everything nearly as concisely with pre-determined outcomes.
Sometimes I need to turn my brain off.
Yes, the banter occurred. However, they were such nice people, I found it easy to do so. No posturing or travel comparisons. No suggestions that two American couples finding themselves at one of the most popular tourist locations of ancient culture was ironic. No Facebook connections, which while it is a social networking group, I am often amazed at the lack of connection people have to accept a Facebook friend.
They were simply very nice people who were of similar mindset and enjoyed traveling. The banter was intelligent and un-restrained, but I wasn't bothered to part ways. Umbrella returned, and back into my safe lovely shell.
The next day I excitedly whisk Eric off to the Hill of Tara and other such similar ancient sites. Yes, it's raining, and we're both starved, so we head to the little coffee shoppe that I fell in love with during my last visit just at the bottom of the Hill.
I walk in to look down at the table (seeing Eric is surprised) only to find the umbrella gentleman. While we had only traded first names at the end of Newgrange yesterday, it suddenly seemed very nice to know his name at this completely un-awkward meeting. It was a pleasant bumping into... He informed me that his wife was in the shoppe and I bustled off, finding all sorts of lovelies for Elle, and naturally meeting up with his wife. We chatted about cupcakes and the return of their popularity.
All of it was quite nice. Neither couple was bound to each other's whims or expectations, but simply maintained an ability to have a conversation at two different locations in Ireland, and then a final wave (though we did not know it) in the medieval graveyard next to the ancient one.
Eric made a very good point. "We would have been standing here awkwardly waiting for our bagels and tea hoping for the couple at the table to be leaving; rather we enjoyed conversation with two extremely nice people in this place where we know no-one, and got to borrow an umbrella to boot."
I really couldn't argue. I told my brain to stop over-analysing everything, and enjoy people more. Yes, there will be the idiots, but what do we lose by keeping up a guard against the inevitable idiots that usually get past the guard anyway?
The gentleman took Eric's email address. Whether we here from them or not, we'll see. I definitely wouldn't mind bumping into them again and enjoying a cupcake. If not, we had a lovely bumping into in Ireland.
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