Memories of Athens via an old post

Wednesday, June 28, 2006


We solved all of the world's problems on Friday night while we casually plunked down in folding chairs, sipped on "upside down monkey trumpet" white wine and looked out over a starry-lit Stewart Street at night. It's true what they say about Athens in the summertime...it's hot, sticky and basically empty. Even The Pub on Court Street wasn't crowded until 1 a.m. on Saturday night. And by crowded I mean that there were 5 girls sitting around Mayberry Corner, and that space at the far end of the bar was occupied by a white-bearded Athens "townie" who was...let's just say a little TOO into the ultimate fight coverage showing on the 19" TV screen.

Well, back to solving the world's problems...

It started out as if it was going to be a mediocre night of social drinking and making small talk with people I hardly knew. But to my surprise, it turned out to be an evening-turned-morning of solid conversation spanning every topic from fort-building in the woods as kids and answers to poverty in America to twisted political strategies in the U.S. and finally, why we turned out the way we did.

We joked about recording our next conversation like this, and to be honest, I wish we would have caught that one on tape. Either we were really on to something with our ideas about the income gap and the education system, or the wine just made it seem like we were. But in either case, it was one of those conversations that you walk away from feeling like you're intelligent and that you accomplished something. The sad part is that we realized that the two of us just sitting there talking about the problems wasn't going to do much good in the world. That's when the 4 hour long, seemingly endless conversation between us started to slow down.

We realized that no matter how much sense our ideas made or how long we vented, Bush was never going to be charismatic or care about the middle class citizens in the U.S., all the billionaires were never going to make pilgrimages to foreign countries or even downtown Cleveland to help a poor man get back into the workforce, teachers and careworkers wouldn't be receiving a 7-digit salary anytime soon even though they earned it a long time ago, and all we could do to start making a difference was to go do it ourselves.

So there we were at a crossroads in the conversation. Go even more in depth about the country's economic struggle and a universal healthcare plan or sit back, sip on one last glass of sweet wine and watch as the drunk bargoers staggered home from uptown. We chose the latter, but knew in our hearts that one day...we will change our world just a little bit.