Citizenship Journal Number 1: On Basketball and Dissoi Logoi
At first, her actions really
bothered me. After all, Darius, Brooke, Crystal, and I were just trying to play
basketball. But in retrospect, her actions ended up teaching me an extremely
valuable lesson. Somehow, someway, a security guard kicking me out of the local
University’s basketball court ended up teaching me how to integrate Dissoi
Logoi in my life and become a more understanding person.
After our twenty minute trek to the local University’s facilities, we arrived at the court. It didn’t take long to realize that the playing conditions were less than ideal. After one errant jump shot, a swarm of wasps left their nest underneath the backboard and made a bee-line (punt sort of intended) for Darius. The opposite hoop was less dangerous, but also less suitable for basketball. This hoop had netting perched about two or three feet above the basket rendering jump shots about as useful as tomato sauce in a Gelataria. Our trip hadn’t gone as planned, but we were making the most of it. Brooke and I were playing Darius and Crystal in a fun two-on-two game. Given the court’s condition, it should come as no surprise that we were the only ones using the court. When we decided to take a water break, she came out.
The court at the university is surrounded by tall black mesh fencing, encaging the players on the court as if they were zoo animals. We were trapped. The Secretary of the University stormed towards the cage and began to yell at the four of us in Italian. I didn’t understand a word she was saying, yet I understood all of it. She demanded that we leave the premises immediately. My instantaneous reaction was equal parts shock and disagreement. Why would she kick out four kids having a good time when no one else was trying to use the basketball courts? Why was she so enraged? What were we doing wrong? We tried to explain to her that Darius was going to become a member at the University gym and that the website says anyone can use the outdoor facilities, but the language barrier was insurmountable. Eventually we grabbed our things and our exodus homeward began.
So why am I broaching this topic for my citizenship journal? I am discussing this because it got me thinking about Dissoi Logoi. On the walk back to Casa Artom, my Brothers (mostly Sisters, actually) in Basketball Arms and I were venting about how poor of a citizen this lady was. She refused to listen to us, she jumped to conclusions quickly, and she refused to have a calm discussion, instead resorting to a temper-fueled battle. At the time, I was wholeheartedly convinced that she was in the wrong and that we, the innocent victims, were right. But then, I thought about Dissoi Logoi. I began to consider the countervailing arguments. I began to look at all the possible angles from this story. I began to look at what transpired from her perspective. When I stepped into her shoes, I realized that she was most likely just doing her job to the best of her abilities. When you look at it from the security guard’s lens, you see four American kids who clearly weren’t University students. She probably believed that we didn’t have the right to use the court, recognized that we were Americans, and believed that the best way to convey to us that we should leave was through the use of anger. Moreover, we should have asked her if we could use the court. Looking back on it, after we toured the weightlifting gym and Darius decided that he was going to get a membership; we just waltzed onto the court and began shooting around like it was our God-given right. It was a fairly rude thing to do.
This newfound insight was sobering. I began to notice a pattern to the human thought process that occurs after a war-of-words. First, the argument happens; each party thinks that they are right, and over time, that opinion fossilizes. Most people don’t go back in time and re-live their argument to consider if they just argued that point in the heat of the moment or if they still stand behind their position. In my aforementioned story, I realized that I only thought the Security Guard was in the wrong because of my opinion in the heat of the moment that got stronger after talking it over with Darius, Brooke, and Crystal, who shared my beliefs. My opinion, that I now deem to be incorrect, was reinforced by talking to like-minded people. Because of that, it took me a long time and a lot of intrinsic analyzing of the countervailing arguments to realize I was wrong.
Consequently, I went back and considered how many stances I’ve been wrong about in the past. The problem is that most of these arguments are so old that their specific details have been blurred past the point of recognition. This was a revelation for me. No longer will I let my contested opinions crystallize over time until they become infallible opinions. When I get into a discussion with someone that deserves my time and attention, I will think about Dissoi Logoi and the countervailing arguments. I will make sure that I, hopefully, can see the arguments from all sides. And maybe I will learn that there are a lot more misunderstood security guards out there.
After our twenty minute trek to the local University’s facilities, we arrived at the court. It didn’t take long to realize that the playing conditions were less than ideal. After one errant jump shot, a swarm of wasps left their nest underneath the backboard and made a bee-line (punt sort of intended) for Darius. The opposite hoop was less dangerous, but also less suitable for basketball. This hoop had netting perched about two or three feet above the basket rendering jump shots about as useful as tomato sauce in a Gelataria. Our trip hadn’t gone as planned, but we were making the most of it. Brooke and I were playing Darius and Crystal in a fun two-on-two game. Given the court’s condition, it should come as no surprise that we were the only ones using the court. When we decided to take a water break, she came out.
The court at the university is surrounded by tall black mesh fencing, encaging the players on the court as if they were zoo animals. We were trapped. The Secretary of the University stormed towards the cage and began to yell at the four of us in Italian. I didn’t understand a word she was saying, yet I understood all of it. She demanded that we leave the premises immediately. My instantaneous reaction was equal parts shock and disagreement. Why would she kick out four kids having a good time when no one else was trying to use the basketball courts? Why was she so enraged? What were we doing wrong? We tried to explain to her that Darius was going to become a member at the University gym and that the website says anyone can use the outdoor facilities, but the language barrier was insurmountable. Eventually we grabbed our things and our exodus homeward began.
So why am I broaching this topic for my citizenship journal? I am discussing this because it got me thinking about Dissoi Logoi. On the walk back to Casa Artom, my Brothers (mostly Sisters, actually) in Basketball Arms and I were venting about how poor of a citizen this lady was. She refused to listen to us, she jumped to conclusions quickly, and she refused to have a calm discussion, instead resorting to a temper-fueled battle. At the time, I was wholeheartedly convinced that she was in the wrong and that we, the innocent victims, were right. But then, I thought about Dissoi Logoi. I began to consider the countervailing arguments. I began to look at all the possible angles from this story. I began to look at what transpired from her perspective. When I stepped into her shoes, I realized that she was most likely just doing her job to the best of her abilities. When you look at it from the security guard’s lens, you see four American kids who clearly weren’t University students. She probably believed that we didn’t have the right to use the court, recognized that we were Americans, and believed that the best way to convey to us that we should leave was through the use of anger. Moreover, we should have asked her if we could use the court. Looking back on it, after we toured the weightlifting gym and Darius decided that he was going to get a membership; we just waltzed onto the court and began shooting around like it was our God-given right. It was a fairly rude thing to do.
This newfound insight was sobering. I began to notice a pattern to the human thought process that occurs after a war-of-words. First, the argument happens; each party thinks that they are right, and over time, that opinion fossilizes. Most people don’t go back in time and re-live their argument to consider if they just argued that point in the heat of the moment or if they still stand behind their position. In my aforementioned story, I realized that I only thought the Security Guard was in the wrong because of my opinion in the heat of the moment that got stronger after talking it over with Darius, Brooke, and Crystal, who shared my beliefs. My opinion, that I now deem to be incorrect, was reinforced by talking to like-minded people. Because of that, it took me a long time and a lot of intrinsic analyzing of the countervailing arguments to realize I was wrong.
Consequently, I went back and considered how many stances I’ve been wrong about in the past. The problem is that most of these arguments are so old that their specific details have been blurred past the point of recognition. This was a revelation for me. No longer will I let my contested opinions crystallize over time until they become infallible opinions. When I get into a discussion with someone that deserves my time and attention, I will think about Dissoi Logoi and the countervailing arguments. I will make sure that I, hopefully, can see the arguments from all sides. And maybe I will learn that there are a lot more misunderstood security guards out there.