Generalizations aren’t a good idea. Either they’re wildly unfair due to specificity, or they are just as unquestionably banal as the previous sentence. However, you’ll notice that in the writing of this blog I have made quite a few generalizations myself thus far and for these I offer the following amends:
Sevillanos know how to party. To the nerds and squares of Sevilla, I apologize.
Sevillanos stroll. To all three of Seville’s residents who can power-walk, I apologize.
Sevillanos are candid. To those here who know how to hold a secret, I apologize.
As my only line of defense, I submit this generalization as a credo under which I write (complements of OSC):
Most people are decent in every country.
And knowing that, believing wholeheartedly that the people I generalize about—while flawed—are good-willed, frees me to make my observations.
Another Orson Scott Card quote states that “A man always assumes others are as virtuous as himself.” I know my own failings, and I am sure others have their own as well. But I also know that I (generally) mean quite well towards others.
I don’t wish anyone harm (excepting incompetent secretaries, bad teachers, and soccer opponents, all of whom deserved to be deep-fried in chocolate sauce gnawed on by toothless octogenarians), and it seems reasonable that most people at least, do not wish any harm on me.
Generally speaking, of course.
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