Goofus and Gallant

This morning, I had an interaction with a Georgian man that could either be underanalyzed or overanalyzed, depending on your imagination. Let's take a look at both possible explanations and then choose the more accurate, less insane one.


First, the scenario: I'm at the stadium running. They don't let normal people onto the track, so I'm running along the sidewalk around the outside. I've got my headphones on, blasting some tunes from my state-of-the-art cassette player so that I don't have to interact with any of the many Georgian men, who are casually strolling around the track at the same time (perhaps a post is in order about the Soviet definition of "exercise," too). One exhausted mile later, I pull my earbuds from my ears and go to retrieve my jacket from the trunk of the tree where I've hidden it so it won't be stolen, when one of the Georgian men calls me over, and the following conversation takes place:

Man: Girl, why are you running the wrong way around the track? You're supposed to run counterclockwise.
Me: I don't know. (leaves)

Actual reason why I was running clockwise around the track-- because it minimizes my interaction with strangers to a few fleeting seconds as I pass them on the left, instead of a protracted minute or so as I catch up and then breeze by. But I couldn't tell him that, could I?

The main thing that bugged me was the question in my mind of why this guy cared which direction I was running in, considering that I was the only one running and I ran off the track to get out of the way of the walkers when I crossed in front of them. I came up with two explanations...

1) This is yet another holdover from Soviet times, the psychology that "the man" is watching and he's going to get you if you so much as sneeze without permission. This Georgian man obviously thinks that everyone who uses the track must strictly follow the rules of track & field, wherein all runners proceed counterclockwise around the track. He seems to imply that a representative of the Central Committee is going to find me and give me a citation for violating the orderliness of society with my reverse running habits, stirring up all sorts of antisocialist ideologies in the minds of those who watch. It's the same syndrome that causes my counterpart to write false dates on tests so it looks like we held them in strict accordance with the Ministry's educational guidelines.

2) The man saw that more runners were coming to the track and that I was getting in their way.

Which do you think is more accurate? Goofus blames all disagreements on the inferiority of the cultures of others. Gallant takes time to understand his opponent's point of view and acknowledges that he himself may have been at fault. Jennifer falls somewhere in the middle.