October 24, 2017:
At Olympia outside the museum we encounter a middle-aged Japanese man carefully descending the steep concrete staircase. He's watching his feet intently, left hand tightly gripping the metal guide rail. His movements are measured, it's unmistakable that he's concerned about falling and is therefore exercising care. He's coming down the right side against what Americans would consider the flow of traffic.
Without thinking or hesitating or complaining or worrying about it my friend and I spontaneously move out of his way, giving him the space he needs in order to be safe. It's not something we mull or consider. It's just what you do, and we do it, and it's done.
Afterward my fury from the Areopagus returns full force. This is the exact situation from the alternate point of view. He needed the guide rail, we gave it to him. What is there to discuss?
In Athens that woman looked me dead in the eye, set her jaw, and charged straight up those steps, claiming her right-of-way as an American, an evangelical, a Southerner, and an entitled fuck.
Fuck her and her fat-bellied slack-brained husband to death and hell and back.