Seawitch made a post on her blog yesterday that made me ponder the rudeness that seems to simmer and boil over amongst the Greek people. This rudeness, at times, seems to completely contradict the normal house and home behavior of the average Greek.
I've mentioned before how clean Greek women tend to keep their homes. These women are always cleaning, I see them on balconies with their mops and buckets daily. Yet why is it that these same women feel free to litter the streets with the same dirt they are sweeping out of their home? Why do they think it is ok to dump their mop water off the balcony? Why do they think it is ok to dump their dustpan off the balcony (and stupid too, if it is at all windy and it blows back up in their face)? Really, if you are going to dump your dirt and crap off the balcony, you could at least use the back balcony, since usually noone is walking underneath back there.
If Greeks are so clean at home, how come they can't seem to figure out the rocket science that is opening the trash can and putting their trash in it? No, it would seem Greeks would rather throw random trash all along the street, and let their bags of trash sit in the road so stray animals can pull it apart and spread trash along the sidewalk and streets. Americans really hate to have trash littering the front of their house/apartment building, why don't Greeks care? How can a Greek who is so fastidious about how their home is kept (and judgemental about how others keep their homes) pick up a pile of mail in the entrance of their building, pull out whatever mail is theirs then drop the rest on the floor?
In America, we had a name for people who did such things. These same people usually also had cars on cement blocks on their front yards and husbands who wore wifebeaters exclusively. It just astounds me daily how adults can be so inconsiderate of their environment and the people around them. Certainly, not ALL Greeks are like this, but enough are so that the problem is prevalent throughout much of Greece, even the smaller villages. Honestly, I don't understand the psychology behind this behavior. Greeks have an enormous amount of national pride, yet they don't work hard enough to keep their cities and buildings presentable. Is the extra effort to put the trash in a bin, to put down the pile of mail where you got it, that difficult?
Maybe it is just me. Maybe I grew up in sterile neighborhoods in America where people picked up their trash and were conscientious about making messes. Downtown Nashville had its moments of vileness, but in the end it was a fairly clean city. Perhaps the bigger the city, the trashier the streets.
I guess it is just too much to ask for. Still, it would be nice to walk outside and not see a pile of trash beside the empty trash can. It would be nice to walk unfettered by the fear of dirt bombs along the sidewalks of the city. It would be nice to walk into my building and not see mail all over the floor. But who am I kidding? If Greeks were perfect, I wouldn't have anything to write about! So there you go. Litter at will.
7 comments:
It's not just the outside environment that's dirty...look inside any government office and the grime in them is enough to make me want to wear surgical gloves and mask before I enter. How many people pick up after their dogs? I've never, not once, ever seen it happen and I'm always out walking my dog 3 times a day for the past 8 years. In fact, it's so rare that people often come straight up to me and ask me where I'm from because they said no Greek has ever picked up after their dogs. LOL I've had chlorox bleach water thrown on top of me from a balcony and a bowl of leftover food as well. I should be walking around the city with an umbrella.
Hi Melusina im Greek-live in Athens-all this stuff you post are ok i agree with you but i just want to say that Greece is studied all over the world especially Ancient Greece.Which country in the world have the one and only Acropolis with the spectacular Parthenon which for many scientists in the world is a mathematical masterpiece that show us the classical Greek harmony?Greece is homebirth of Democracy,invent the government,civilization,society,Olympics games & philosophy(i guess your husband should tell you about the ancient Greek model of "city-states" and the wars between Greek cities).You make me laugh because of start thinking in Greek lol :).I want to "justify" your post and say that Greeks as Italians and the rest of the Meditteranean people-many times we become rude & angry but we are not all the same-especially Greeks are famous around the world for their warm hospitality-but sometimes "we get off our clothes"(Greek expression-your husband can translate it)with some situations we must handle in our daily life.finally in the world we live a perfectly clean country or city dont exist.Even America.
Yes Anonymous, I am quite familiar with Ancient Greek history, literature and philosophy, and I do love it all and find it so fascinating and interesting.
I actually love Greece - the good and the bad, and it is with good humor that I write about the bad things, as they make the funniest stories (and most Greeks find them funny as well).
Thank you for visiting and reading and always feel free to comment (or argue) with any point I make. :)
I think there's something about feeling responsible for or valuing the 'public' space. I've noticed this same phenomenon in Mexico. Inside of homes, courtyarded gardens, etc. - spotless. Outside on the street - often filthy. In cultures where you see this dichotomy, I don't think the public space is valued in the same way. And so there's little approbation for those litter in public.
London is filthy, too. And Londoners are famously litterbugs. Funnily enough though, they often won't litter in other towns or places, just in their own public spaces.
So much like Turkey. Many Turkish women who never typed anything ever have RSI because of all the excessive mopping and scrubbing and whatnot, but they nevertheless have no problem whatsoever with throwing away trash out of the window of their cars. Streets are apparently not part of Turkey or something.
And now I'm wondering if the Greeks here will be angry at me because I dare to say we are -gasp-similar? Just kidding. Kind of.
And greetings, melusina.
Hiya Phanja
Well, you know I think most European countries are similar in some ways, and this is one of them. I noticed it in Italy too. Of course, Belgium and the Netherlands were spic and span clean, but they might as well be another universe, the culture is so different.
Besides the irony of being so clean at home and so filthy outside of it, I always felt there was some sort of "karma" thing in not littering, etc., so it bothers me on a metaphysical level too, I guess.
Really a rude dog! Should be punished :)
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