Reputations must be earned.
Civility to strangers is a Best Practice.
I'm with the ancient Greeks on this one, all strangers should have food and wine (perhaps tea
) before the conversation gets too serious.
“Alas,” said he to himself, “what kind of people have I come amongst? Are they cruel, savage, and uncivilized, or hospitable and humane? I seem to hear the voices of young women, and they sound like those of the nymphs that haunt mountain tops, or springs of rivers and meadows of green grass. At any rate I am among a race of men and women. Let me try if I cannot manage to get a look at them.”
-Odysseus from 'The Oddysey'
“Old man, the dogs were likely to have made short work of you, and then you would have got me into trouble. The gods have given me quite enough worries without that, for I have lost the best of masters [i.e., Odysseus], and am in continual grief on his account. I have to attend swine for other people to eat, while he, if he yet lives to see the light of day, is starving in some distant land.
But come inside, and when you have had your fill of bread and wine, tell me where you come from, and all about your misfortunes.”
-The Swineherd from 'The Oddysey'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xenia_(Greek)
Topic: gemspace -- SEC compliant platform (Read 20996 times)
