imponderables

One of the things that struck me while living in France is their idiosyncrasies, but also the lucidity of many French to look at a problem and not get confused about what is important. In some instances, this lucidity gets confused with arrogance and a sense of superiority vis a vis the rest of us. No question about it. This arrogance and sense of superiority do exist. And the French are quite good at using them in their everyday dealings not only with the world, but with each other as well.

However, for the purposes of franceconfidential, I have decided—in a humorous way-- to use a variant of that great film: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, and have thus constructed three categories when speaking about the French:

Category A: France, The Bad and The Ugly.
Category B: The Good, France and the Ugly.
Category C: The Good, The Bad and France.

Now, how will we know which is which? I don’t know, except that without a doubt all three of them are always present. Depending upon what aspect of the French I’ll be dealing with, and there are so many of them and in what order they appear any discussion about the French is one of those imponderables in life. I’d like to suggest that whatever category my entry falls into, that such judgment be made by others and not necessarily by me.

Remember, this whole business of categories is done tongue and cheek, and it is not meant to insult the sensitivities of the subjects involved or their importance. For the record, the categories listed above are not meant to disrespect that classic, western, film directed by Sergio Leone and starring: Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach. Great film!