Dear Friends of the Pub Quiz,
Hello! My favorite scene from the 1986 film Crocodile Dundee features the title character walking down a New York City street for the first time, and greeting every single person he encounters, just as he would in the Australian Outback. I tried this when walking around Washington DC this past May, with similar (non-responsive) results. In Los Angeles earlier this month, I asked my sister-in-law if my brother Oliver would also greet people he met on the street, and she said she thought he did that because of his training as a reporter. Also a journalist, my dad, who was legally blind during much the time we lived in DC, would not engage with strangers unless they called out to him first, which they often did.
This morning as I was biking to meet my wife Kate and her dad and stepmom for breakfast, someone waved to me as she made a left turn in front of me in her car. Was she signaling her thanks for my pausing, as I do, so she could make her turn, or did she recognize me, and thus offer a friendly greeting to someone she knows? I don’t know, but these days I do make a habit of greeting people I see in cars as well as those I encounter on bicycle.
I used to have a rule that when I was out walking, I would only greet women walking alone when I was A) with one or more of my children, or B) wearing a tie, as I do on teaching days. I didn’t want anyone to be made to feel uncomfortable, or feel that I was hitting on them. Now I just have a rule that I bike almost everywhere, and that I greet just about everyone, even though I travel fast enough not to know if they respond. Once I heard my youngest son explain to my oldest son that “Daddy does that because he wants everyone to know that Davis is a friendly town.”
At the Pub Quiz, I again greet everyone while I am making my rounds. Even when surprised people get up to go soon after the Pub Quiz starts (so much noise!), I still thank them for coming into the pub that evening, as if it were my restaurant. As the Buddha said, “Teach this triple truth to all: A generous heart, kind speech, and a life of service and compassion are the things which renew humanity.” Strangers on the street may know nothing of our generosity or lives of service, but each of them may receive the kind word if you remember to offer it.
Tonight’s Pub Quiz will feature questions on topics raised above, and on the following: Japanese words, herbivores, relative circulation, distilled spirits, childhood and boyhood, calculators, popular dishes, inventors, snow people, the Maryland county of Charles County, English-speakers, newspaper headlines, Frenchmen, the rent, Hasbro toys, title colors, sports talk, Ronald Reagan, notable kings, greenbacks, mottos and slogans, The World Series, the cost of cows, flowers for eating, flowers for growing, astronomy, playful developers, founding mothers, horror movies, privatization, the farmers’ almanac, and Shakespeare.
Join us for the fun this evening. Your team needs your insight, your memory, and your generous spirit!
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Here are three questions from last week’s quiz:
- Books and Authors. What ancient Roman poet of the Augustan era wrote the epic titled The Aeneid? Hint: His birthday is October 15th.
- Film. Dakota Johnson’s mom was nominated for an Academy Award for her work in the film Working Girl. What is her name? Hint: Once she was known for her famous mom, and perhaps now for her famous daughter.
- Irish Culture. According to the 1993 study 1993 “Biogeography of Ireland: past, present and future,” how many extant mammal species are native to Ireland? None, two, 26, or 260.
P.S. Do you know the story of the two wolves?
“A fight is going on inside me,” said an old man to his son.
“It is a terrible fight between two wolves. One wolf is evil. He is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.
The other wolf is good. He is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and faith. The same fight is going on inside you.”
The son thought about it for a minute and then asked, “Which wolf will win?”
The old man replied simply, “The one you feed.”