Parisian Assumptions

My guess is all of you know what this is and where this is.  Yup, it's the Eiffel Tower in Paris.  And this past summer, I managed to get my heights hating husband up into said tower, with only a few groans.

Originally, we had planned to visit Paris with a couple and their daughter who are friends of ours.  The wife had lived in Paris for a few years when younger and wanted to go back with her husband and daughter to show them the city.  Since she speaks fluent French (and I don't, like at allllll) we thought it would be fun to go together.  Unfortunately, this couple had to cancel out, and so it was just the three of us left to explore.

Listen, I grew up dreaming of Paris.  Watching movies about it, reading books that took place there, etc....  And, having traveled a little bit in the South of France, I felt that we could bumble through Paris on our own just fine.  I was excited to go and explore this amazing city.

But, I have to admit, I also had some trepidation about going to Paris.  I had heard the stories of how famously snobbish Parisians are, especially towards travelers from the U.S.  Friends of mine who had traveled there and who had lived there even warned me that they could be a bit snobbish and standoffish.  Even some of the French I had met in Provence (southern France) had mentioned that they didn't like the "stuck-up attitude" of those Parisians.  That they thought they were better than everyone else.  So, with those thoughts and warnings in my mind, I  began to prepare myself and family for the well known "Parisian" attitudes we would encounter while there.

Let me say, Paris is everything I dreamed of and more!  It is a city filled with outstanding art, music, architecture, gastronomical delights, romance, and so much more.  Every rounded corner contained amazing delights for the eyes and ears.  The shops are amazing, even the window displays are out of this world fantastic.  I often felt like I had been transported to this stunning new world.  I probably walked around with my mouth hanging wide open 90% of the time.

And although the sites and sounds out-performed the hype, the most amazing thing about Paris?  Parisians.  Make no mistake, they are a very well-dressed, well-bred , well-educated group.  And how could they not be, surrounded as they are by all this amazing history, art, music, and food.  But they are also an amazing melting pot of different ethnicities, religions, viewpoints, and economic levels.  I found them to be polite, kind, and courteous.  They are fiercely proud of their city, and they should be-- it's amazing.  I found that they were outright encouraging and willing to teach when asked about their culture, history, art, music, food, etc...  They were warm, welcoming and fantastically funny.  I loved the very dry sense of humor that we encountered on more than one occasion.  I not only fell in love with Paris the city, but with the Parisian people.  And I can't wait to go back!

And I am so glad that I didn't let "assumptions" keep me from making this trip.  I am extremely glad that I didn't let my assumptions keep me from interacting with the lovely Parisian people I ran into.  I probably would have still enjoyed the city, but I would have missed out on it's heartbeat, on what makes Paris so special-- which is it's people.  And that would have been a sad thing to miss.

These days, everywhere I turn we are making assumptions about a group of people.  There are assumptions about people who voted one way or another in the recent presidential election.  There are assumptions about the laziness or perceived ungrateful privilege of young people.  There are assumptions about ethnicity, about those in government, about those who have money and those who do  not. The list goes on and on.  And the problem with these assumptions is that they allow us and even encourage us to keep a distance from other people.  They allow us to somehow "de-humanize" someone else because we assume something about them based on what group we place them in.

The definition of assumption is:  a thing that is accepted as true or certain without proof.

Let's focus on the "without proof" portion.  How do you prove that something is true or untrue?  The only way to do that is by getting closely and intimately involved. And that would involve laying down your assumptions and doing the hard work of finding out what the truth is.  So, next time, before you assume that someone will act or behave a certain way, why don't you take the time to get to know them?  Ask questions, find out if what you assumed would happen, does in fact happen.  Quit defining people as groups and instead define them as individuals.  You might be pleasantly surprised.

So, thank you Paris, for being one of the most pleasant surprises of my life.  What a joy it was to visit your amazing city and people!  I'll leave you with a few more photos of Paris and with a traditional French toast:  A votre sante! (to your health)