Triskaidekaphobia
Last Friday, Friday the 13th, we took the day off from working on the construction of our youth center. The youth, on Thursday, convinced that only bad things (and many many of them) would happen to us (and to the center) if we worked on such a black day, persuaded me to work Saturday instead.
I, on one hand, was taken aback by their instance and total refusal to work on the 13th (these aren't lazy kids - they are volunteering their time, and usually spend between 5 and 8 hours a day doing repair work and related errands, of which there are many). On the other hand, I realised, I know our own culture is pretty suspersticious. (knock on wood, anyone?)
They asked me if in America we beleived in Friday the 13th. I said we mostly noted it, and then move on with our days. Then I thought more.
And I explained to them about how many of our apartment buildings, and taller working buildigns, in America, don't have a floor 13. They took this, at first, to mean that the entire 13th floor is empty: no one rents it, no one lives on it, etc. Wasteful Americans, they scolded.
Then I explained to them that it was more of a mental trick. The floor space is used, it is just called the 14th floor, usually. And there is no "13th floor" button on the elevator, it just goes from 12th to 14th.
They thought this was hysterical. Hys-ter-i-cal. "Don't people who live on the 14th floor know they are really living on the 13th floro?," they ask, laughing. "yes," I said, "they just like to pretend they don't." "But if you are going up the stairs and not the elevator, it would be clear you are really climbing 13 flights of stairs." "I know"
More laughter.
When it stopped. My partner, having a sudden realization, put this question on the table - "So, those living on the 50th floor, are really living on the 49th?"
"Yes."
More laughter about the absurtity of America. We, in all our "adanced-ness" and "modernity," are not beyond supersticion.
"Yes."
More laughter about the absurtity of America. We, in all our "adanced-ness" and "modernity," are not beyond supersticion.
This entry was posted
on Tuesday, June 17, 2008 at 2:10 PM.
