There are those who form broad assumptions about people, with little interaction or just on sight--that they are happy or sad, sloppy or neat, work in a deadend job or is the uppity type. I always hesitate to do that, instinctively giving them leeway as I would like to be given the same leeway myself: I may have had a bad day at work, it may be a bad hair day or something equivalent, I may be in the mood for only one kind of conversation. We are all complex and unknowable, how could I ever draw any conclusions? Yet those mentioned earlier are often better judges of character than I, and are better at being known as well.

Similarly I hesitate to write, or even form, opinions about cities I travel in, knowing what I see and experience are so brief and partial, and cities are as complex and unknowable as anything. (I like to think this kind of self-censuring stems from a compassion of sorts...) But I know I should try...