Music - Roads Less or is it more travelled
So tomorrow we hit the railroad for a whirlwind tour around Italy for two weeks before heading back to our home country.
It has been a really challenging experience for a myriad of reasons.... not least our timing... crypto bear markets are brutal.
So what have I learnt?
I have learnt that the country of my birth is a beautiful, melting pot of (mostly) friendly mixed cultural people. I have learnt that in my land of birth people have a far more enquiring mind than any I have come across in Europe (of COURSE this is a generalization), they are friendlier, more welcoming and more likely to assist a person in need..... even total strangers.
In fact truly the most most significant difference is people LAUGH more, they SMILE more .... despite the countries woes
Unfortunately it is also a dysfunctional society. Corruption at State level has widened the gap between the haves and the have nots.... causing serious violent environments where the innocent suffer... causing excessive unemployment, the loss of industry and infrastructure....
Keeping the lights on is no longer a light hearted term (sorry could not resist)
I am sad to be leaving Italy .... the truth of the matter is the 'dysfunctional' issues in South Africa impact ones daily living. The fact that simply going to a park and sitting on a bench reading a book, alone, is not an option. A spontaneous late night walk on the beach .... almost certainly an invitation to rape or murder.
The tension we live under is not understood until one lives elsewhere.... places where safe freedom of movement is taken for granted.
I will close this spontaneous rant with a South African band which epitomises the South African spirit !!!
And appropriately we end off with an extremely relevant song.... and I believe this little exercise has lightened my heart about our imminent return to our country of birth.
Thank you for tolerating my rant... and of course always being here....
And yet we still survive … such is life.
Agreed..... and thank you for the continued support.
It's of course sad that you have to leave Italy... but let the memory of all the good things you lived here give you strength for the time you are in South Africa.
Enjoy the upcoming two weeks!!!
It is bittersweet .... I love South Africa and will be happy to see family and friends on a regular basis.... but I just love the European lifestyle.... and by that I mean in part the safety factor, the low crime. the low violence/ Europeans take that for granted... in South Africa that is the exception.
Now you can say that you've lived overseas for a while? Is that a checkbox? I don't fully understand life a lot of the time XD
Keep relentlessly being a good example once you get back and maybe things will spread I donno. The situations in a number of countries and some entertaining shenanigans here tells me that it's entirely possible to just sidestep into something better, we just nneed to build it and then step.
Delayed response :) .... travelled out. Heading home tomorrow.... another quadrillion churches visited, another gazillion castles and a mega ridiculous number of steps walked. Phew, I getting old and my body reminds me at the end of each day.
I am not a doom and gloom merchant but I believe we are in for some dark times before the tide turns.
Take care my friend