Dean Christakos« I Have Stumbled into a Fringe Political Convention | Main | Reflections on July 4th »
November 24, 2008
You are just a man...
At present I am in the lobby of my hostel trying to ignore the loud Persian members of the People's Mujahadeen discussing Iranian politics while I check my e-mail and upload my latest group of pictures. Quite honestly, as someone who has some experience with failed attempts at trying to remove a pig-ignorant fundamentalist warmongering rogue leader from office in my own home country, I want to tell these guys to settle down and be a bit more realistic about their prospects.
There's an act of modesty I like to perform whenever I'm traveling. In ancient Rome, when a general returned to the capital from a great victory, a huge parade would be thrown in his honor and the captured enemy would be paraded in chains. While the victorious general was leading the processing through the middle of the city, a slave would be positioned behind him whispering "you are just a man, you are just a man, you a just a man..." in his ear to remind him not to get any delusions of god-like or emperor-like grandeur. In the end, he was just another human.
In a similar spirit of self-flaglelation and humility, I always like to spend each trip abroad making a stop at a local McDonald's and placing an order for some French fries. It reminds me that for all of my world travels and explorations and stories of my exploits, at the end of the day, I'm just another American tourist.
I switched it up a bit, this year. I still might stop at a McDonald's, but meanwhile, I stumbled across the Route 66 American Diner in Berlin, right on Ludwigkircheplatz in Wilmersdorf:
Here, I ordered a chili cheeseburger with fries, along with a chocolate milk shake. And darn it, they were good.
Meanwhile, I spoke a bit with the waitress, who spoke very good English (as so many people do here), and asked if she was originally from Berlin (many of the Germans here seem to have moved to Berlin from elsewhere). She said that she actually grew up in Berlin but that her family was from Greece. A bit shocked, I explained, in Greek, that I myself was Greek American, and we spoke some more in Greek about live for Greeks in Berlin and where our families were from (she from Corfu, and my family from Laconia, Chios, and eastern Thrace). Ok, so maybe I am a bit cosmopolitan than I give myself credit for. :)
Actually, this is probably a reminder that I still need to make a stop at McDonald's.
Posted by Dean at November 24, 2008 5:54 PM
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Comments
Just a man? Don't be so sure CHRISTakos....
Posted by: Prophet at December 5, 2008 9:42 PM