Paris Journal 2011 – Barbara Joy Cooley Home: barbarajoycooley.com
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I downloaded Fitzgerald’s story, “Babylon Revisited,” onto my Kindle and read it yesterday evening after we returned from a nice, uncomplicated dinner at Aux Deux Oliviers. The story takes place in this neighborhood. Tom, the English professor, asked me what I thought of the main character. I said, “He’s a self-centered jerk.” I guess that was the right answer, as far as Professor Tom is concerned. He approved of my interpretation. He should know – American Literature is his field. If you read the story and felt sorry for Charlie Wales, read it again – carefully. He is not the victim in this tale. I read a stunning but not surprising (to me) news story yesterday that announced the fact that now more than 16 percent of Florida’s population is at the poverty level or below. And that isn’t unusual in the U.S. I wonder what the percentage is now in France? (Here’s an article that says it was 13.5% in 2009.) I do feel a great deal of empathy for the poor and the working poor, and so we give regularly to the local food pantry (in FL) – making sure that much of our donation goes for purchasing fresh food, like milk, for kids. (I will never forget having to drink that awful powdered stuff when I was a kid.) We also give to other causes, like the ones supported by my church and organizations that provide health care to poor women and kids. But I know there are a few people who take advantage of others’ generosity, and who could be working and productive if they wanted to be. Those few are doing a great disservice to other poor people who really do need the help. There is a mendicant in particular who I think is an example of these few here in Paris. He seems to be an able-bodied young man, but he sits on the sidewalk near a busy intersection and begs, aggressively, all day long. He has two dogs with him. The dogs, and the man, look well-nourished and fit. I like animals, including dogs, but I know how unpredictable dogs can be. One day when we were walking around the kiosque in front of which this mendicant sits, one of his dogs, who was not leashed, darted out after a little girl who was carrying an ice cream cone from the Häagen-Dazs boutique nearby. The dog stopped when the girl stopped, and he didn’t leap on her. He just looked. This was right in front of me, and I didn’t trust the dog, so I just stopped in my tracks to see what was happening. I was trapped by the kiosque, the dog, the girl, and a car parked by the curb. The mendicant got up to collect his dog. He saw me stopped there, and he said, “Are you afraid of dogs?” I said “yes,” because when a dog is doing something like this, I know it is unpredictable and therefore maybe dangerous. The mendicant said, “This dog is the friendly dog. My other dog there, the black one, is the attack dog.” Great, I thought. He’s out there with an attack dog and a “nice” dog, and I’m supposed to know which is which? And this little girl’s parents are letting her go up to strange dogs on the street, with an ice cream cone in her hand? Has the world gone mad? We never give that mendicant any coins. We don’t give to Gypsy mendicants either, because of their organized crime and abuse of the weak among them. We give to some mendicants – usually older people who cannot and should not work, and should not have to be out there, begging. If we see locals giving to a mendicant who seems to be of the neighborhood, we give, too. France does an excellent job, however, of feeding its poor. There are even programs for the working poor and others with limited income to be able to buy discounted meals at restaurants. And of course, everyone has health care here. While the French public health care is certainly not always the best, the French health care system is at its best when the patient has a serious problem. Instead of benefits running out when there’s a serious problem, the benefits become more intensive and extensive. That’s when families need help the most – when a child or other family member is gravely ill. That’s when the French system shines. When the going gets tough, the French health care system gets going. So in addition to the cuisine, I think the French have catastrophic health care coverage refined to a “T.” French citizens do not go bankrupt over medical costs, as many Americans do. The everyday, ordinary health care provided in the French public system is not great, but nobody’s perfect. At least, the French don’t let people die due to lack of coverage here. Another, far less important French thing that I like is advertising. The ads we see on TV during the Tour de France in July are lots of fun. The ads we see on billboards and bus stops are often beautiful and/or clever. And the beautiful parks, so many beautiful parks, with the beautiful flowers. And the great availability of organic foods and other foods that are fresh and unburdened with chemical preservatives (which my body doesn’t seem to tolerate very well anymore). I walked in the Luxembourg Gardens before dinner. (Tom unfortunately had to deal with a family problem back in the U.S., via phone and email. But don’t worry – all is well.) Toward the end of my walk, I found the exhibit in the park’s Orangerie called “Remarkable Trees of France.” It was just that: large photos of remarkable trees, most of them very old, growing in super-majestic or weird ways. The trees were from all over France. But a couple were from right there in the Luxembourg Gardens. One I walk by almost every time we go in or out of the gardens, if we use the entrance closest to the apartment. It is an old Catalpa, with roots going this way and that over a large rock, and one enormous curving branch sticking way out to the side, requiring a support of large beams to hold it up. And that’s another thing I love about Paris – there are so many beautiful places to walk. Paris, the city for walking. What’s not to love about that? Sign
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Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Advertising
on a news kiosque at the Place du Commerce.
Aggressive
beggar with two dogs in front of the news kiosque
at avenue de la Motte Picquet
and the boulevard de Grenelle.
A
remarkable old Catalpa tree growing in the Luxembourg Gardens.
The small
Statue of Liberty in the Luxembourg Gardens, with a newly planted oak tree
from America, just installed as part of the 9/11 commemorations.
Flowers
left on 9/11/11, by the Statue of Liberty.
The chicken
and vegetable tagine at Aux Deux Oliviers on the rue de Vaugirard,
near the French Senate. |
