We recently returned home from a trip to Italy which was rather ambitious. I am on sabbatical and decided the cost effective and detail specific way to see what I wanted to see in Italy and Croatia was to plan it myself. All the flights, the trains, the lodging, the tours, ideas about food, and what we needed to have a good journey. No worrying about trying to drive, I said, we will just take trains and buses. Much of that played out as planned, but there were of course, unexpected things. In the month or so before our trip, we were focused upon the health and then death of the late Pope Francis both for him and the church, but for our own plans. It was already declared a Jubilee Year with a big increase of travelers in a bustling city. Once a new Pope was selected, someone told me I could rest easy that everything would be just fine. To which my rather quick retort was, “Well yes as long as no one strikes like they do in Europe in the summer.” The next morning I woke up wondering what strikes had in fact been announced which might cancel or significantly delay our travels. Some things I knew enough ahead to redirect, but any seasoned traveler will tell you there is always adventure lurking.
In Italy, my experience is that while the cars are fast, people are not. Our “on the go” culture is simply not the way. And for my part that is predominantly for the better. You simply do not start a conversation by asking for something. You say, “Buon Giorno” for “good morning or day” or “Buona sera” in the evening. Unless someone says “salve” which is also a “hello” but its roots are in wishing you good health. Would that this would catch on in the States. Then you can ask or tell what you want. Easy to do when you are sauntering along. But much harder when you are rushing.
Then again, unless you only have three minutes to get the train, how often are we really actually rushing? No one orders “takeaway” or “to go” cups, they spend time in conversation and sit. And if someone is being kind instead of just saying “goodbye” they say “Buon giornata.” On the surface it means “good day” but its roots (I love language!) are found in “have a good day’s work or journey.”
Do we who live in “rush-rush” cultures really get farther by short-changing simple pleasant courtesies? Are we really so important we need to push through a crowd on a tiny street? We can tell ourselves we are saving time, but for what? Are we not instead sometimes starving ourselves of what we really need which is connection on the journey? Can we be so busy making a living we forget to make a life?
That last question carries privilege with it, a privilege many do not have. We can ask on our journey what is so urgent that we cannot stop to greet and even bless others. We can ponder their journeys. Or maybe we are afraid of what we might feel if we slow down and see?
One of my takeaways from my recent trip was the lengths to which people went to show us things, to laugh with us, and to share in not so great Italian or rusty English, what we share.
One day our tour ran late and our guide Donatella and I had been having a fabulous conversation about the women of the early church. I was stressing that we were lost and would miss a dinner reservation. She guided us there, even though, unbeknownst to us we would be redirected by a government motorcade. We were already late and she wanted to buy coffee before we parted. I was agonizing about that and she simply went over to the restaurant and told them we had gotten lost and hung up in the motorcade redirect and that she was taking us for coffee and we would be back in half an hour. While I thought this was a little audacious, it in fact was just fine. A simple pleasure so we all could have a buon giornata. Our collective and individual giornata was so much fuller for the time we spent being humans who could laugh about the unexpected and celebrate the surprising.
Just one way of walking gently with ourselves and each other.
Buon giornata to you, and salve!
To your good health- Carolyn
Walk Gently 