Last weekend, the comrades and I headed out to 'interview' an Irish pub in Buenos Aires. We need to check out all the candidates before St. Patty's day falls upon us. We must be ready.
We decided to check out The Shamrock, relatively closeby, about 10 blocks or 1 kilometre away. We left FOR the bar at 2. In the the morning.
When we arrived the bar was pretty full and people were casually standing around sipping on Imperial or Quilmes. A lot of people were foreigners, like us, just wanting to have a decent pub at hand. I guess it might have been the amount of time we have been here, or maybe it's the overall Argentine vibe, but nothing felt out of the ordinary. People, even the Irish, were calmly drinking and chatting to one another. Comrade to comrade.
The 4 of us sat down at a table and decided to chat amongst ourselves. The entire time, or at least until 5:30AM when we decided to leave, the bar was steady and there was no ruckus. Why?
We finished off the night with some pizza for dinner, eating amongst the working-men, having their morning coffee before they went to their jobs. We watched the sunrise over some grapefruit pop and cheese pizza, grande. Still, no ruckus. I don't even know how to spell ruckus.
Why?
Well, we discussed the answer the following day: because no one needs to make a ruckus. They are not forced to get wasted before a certain time, thus, proceeding to the bar to order round after round of shots. There is no need to have a good time fast because you want to go all night. No need for last call. No need to cut people off. No need for unnecessary police force to keep the peace. Just people, living, having a good time, doing what they want to do without imposing on anyone else. Always thought it was a possibility. Never thought I would live to see it.
Well, I lived to see it, had a good time, did what I wanted to do without imposing on anyone else.
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Australia also (up until recently) in many states had no 'last call'. This has since been removed by the government because the bar fights were so disaterous and violent that Australia was breaking records for permanent damage done to the faces and bodies of their youth. I was witness to many of these fights. People left with permanent paralysis over a 'bump' or spilled drink at 6:00 in the morning.
ReplyDeleteThe lack of fights that you witnessed may also be that the North American - or Western World way - is that we have become so accustomed with what we have and what we no longer need that we are 'bored' on a large scale. Searching for meaning and a small, if only brief bar fight, to bring us back a little piece of humanity that has been washed away with material consumption. I believe people fight for two reasons - when they have nothing and when they have everything thus eliminating that appreciation of the life they have come to live.