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!

WELCOME/BIENVENUE

France, its rich history and language have been written about, analyzed, discussed, explained ad nauseam, that we think we have an understanding of the French mind. Interestingly enough, this idea has merits but up to a certain point. However, it is not always practical as the landscape of the French culture, traditions, style, class, charm, ancient history, modern history, is varied and complicated but, nevertheless, rich and fascinating. It is not surprising that the famous expression: Plus ça va, plus c’est la même chose, seems to be one of these maxims that over time have become clichés, but, which, nevertheless are still true and very much applies to France. Maybe they are the ones who invented the saying.

My blog: http://franceconfidential.blogspot.com is not about secrets or private matters but, rather, it is about confidence, something to be trusted, firm beliefs, assurances, and confidence in one’s own ability. However, the idea for this blog is not to elevate the French to a position of superiority vis a vis the rest of us, and certainly the French are known for their self-assurance that they know better than everybody else. I say this with the most benign intent. Rather, the intent here is to be able to muse over who they are—who they are not. What they are—what they are not. Where they are—where they are not. That it is constantly surprising us both in terms of the French hanging on to their traditional ways and at the same time exploring the new with eagerness and panache. I hope to be able to bring a personal point of view about the French and what they represent to the rest of us, certainly to me.