Experiences. Society.

Yesterday at noon, I saw a man—one of those who watch over construction sites, or rather a caretaker for a lot enclosed by corrugated metal sheets and gates—furiouly tearing down some poorly pasted propaganda posters. They happened to be stuck right onto "his metal sheets." After ripping them off (there were only two annoying posters), he threw them onto the ground and began stomping on them violently to compress them as much as possible, leaving them in a corner between two posts where he had tossed them.

Further along, I crossed paths with a woman who was not particularly neat in appearance. She was talking to a meowing cat she was carrying in a bag; the feline had been captured in the Botanical Garden, and as she hurried away, the woman kept telling it, “Quiet, it’ll be over soon, hang in there.”

Then, just a few steps ahead, right in front of the police station, there was a sudden screech of brakes from a taxi driver, immediately followed by the shout of a pedestrian crossing a bit further behind with his family: “I have the right of way, I’m crossing!” He was a big, husky guy, and apparently, the taxi driver had cut ahead (illegally), so this man either hit the car, spat on it, or yelled at him, which prompted the driver to slam on the brakes. After that, they each went their separate ways.

I continued on my way, and just a block from there, a well-kept, fairly new car—a dark teal Passat with tinted windows—rolled down its window and tossed a bag into the street. It made a sharp clatter; it seemed to contain a plate and likely disposable cutlery from their lunch. A complete idiot, just like so many out there. A pedestrian watching from the sidewalk saw what happened and said out loud, in a thoroughly contemptuous (and completely justified) tone, “Oh, brilliant, what’s next?” The car sped off and went on its way.

It occurred to me to end with a quote by Arthur Schopenhauer (1788–1860): “Ordinary people have invented social life because it is easier for them to tolerate others than to tolerate themselves.”