Italy is falling  and I’m riding it upside down

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May 23rd 2007. Mexicans remind me of Italians in ways

Mexicans remind me of Italians, and of course people from the U.S., in ways that disturb me and make me sad. It is especially about the music, the horrible music imposed on every one's ears, or maybe it's the popularity of cell phones, and fancy cars, and fancy clothes. Maybe it's the stupidity of junk food, of eating meat twice a day, and the stupidity of the fiestas, that are supposed to be noisy because they break everyday's calm, when in reality there is no calm, no quietness to break anymore, because no one is ever left alone by the new powerful noises of modernity.
But just like in other countries of central America I visited, people here have something we don't have, I mean anymore of course, something that they can't teach us and that no one could ever learn anyway. It's something you can only notice and look at, knowing it is out of reach. It is a form of innocence, I guess, and innocence can only be lost, just like we lost ours and just like everyone and every people is bound to lose its own in these times. Just like they have lost or are losing their own and it can't be helped. Nobody knows why this happens. Only to some it is clear how.
(Would I ever write these things if I wasn't here? Innocence? I doubt it.)

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4 Responses to “Mexicans remind me of Italians in ways” :

elsa said

But they are not LOUD LIKE ITALIANS!!!!!! YOU CANNOT HEAR THEIR CONVERSATIONS ACROSS A ROOM! :-)

Andy said

Yes, but, to be honest, I think Italians have always been loud. It’s not new. It’s the way you are and imho it’s part of what makes you what you are. Don’t knock it. Innocence. Is it all it’s cracked up to be? Not really. We only envy innocence because it reminds us of a time of no worries - which is a false state in any event. It’s a state of being a child and I do not wish to return to that. I may have more worries and stress now, but I also have more experience and get more out of life. It’s a trade off that I can accept and embrace.

Andy said

By the way, good to have you back, C. Glad to know you are safe and well.

corpodibacco said

Elsa: I hear mexican conversations and tvs, and radios all the time… and I still have to sleep in a quiet hotel here!! :)
Andy, I’m not here saying that I want that kind of thing… for myself. It would make no sense. I said it is something that can only be lost, never gained. But there is this thing, maybe it is a form of innocence, but not of the child. Were my gradparents, or grand-grandparents, like children? No, they had rugged, difficult painful lives: but they had a form of innocence in the way they handled life that is completely lost and almost unimaginable for me. I call it innocence, maybe another word would be more appropriate. Sometimes I say, the world was young back then; or: the world is still young down there. Only it is too difficult to explain in what this consists. It’s probably the most difficult thing to explain today, since it is the essence (this loss) of our times. But I’m working on it–

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