We eat oranges and apples after almost every meal, and I was eating them over lunch today, with all the stuff I had to read for my Function of Games fresh in my mind. In the past the Greeks liked to compete over pretty much everything: Looks, wealth, physical strength, wit. They used any difference among them as a point to excel over the other, to be the best. Why? Simply to win: for glory, honour, a reminder of their virtue.
This practice made virtually no sense to me, and the apples and oranges seemed to have a relationship with this. Comparing two humans is like trying to compare apples with oranges. Comparing the way the Greeks did would be like an orange saying to an apple, “Ha! I’m juicier than you!” Or an apple saying to an orange, “Ha, I have smoother skin than you!” Precisely- it seems nonsensical. It seems ridiculous as an objective outsider. Because you can’t compare apples with oranges. Both are delicious is such different ways. An orange can never become an apple and vice-versa. It seems ridiculous to say that one is better than the other on such micro terms. Because what matters is the fruit as a whole. And both fruits are important and beautiful in their own way, none better than the other, no matter how much you try to compare their qualities.
Just wanted to keep this in mind, because as humans we have very warped views of ourselves sometimes.
More overdue blogging… after I get back from Austria.
