The Analysis Begins

My apologies for not updating this in so long! I'm back on the informative track now, and I'll be even more in line next week: I'm going to get my computer this weekend. By "going to get," I specifically mean that I'm flying (for ten euros) to Bilbao, where my friend Julen has been graciously safeguarding my PC. Troppo complicato, no?! Once I have my computer, I hope to fill you in (and post some photos). And there's lots to fill you in on!

For starters, I've been in Florence since the beginning of January taking a language course. It's awesome. I have class from 9-1 every weekday, and it's pretty much like you'd imagine a university language course to be. The best part, though, is that, twice a week, in the afternoons, I'm taking a course (in Italian), called "The Women of the Medici." The Medici were the "royal family," in a manner of speaking - though part of the beauty of the Renaissance was that they weren't actually royalty - of Renaissance Florence. I'm learning all about the history, art, science, politics, family feuds, assassinations, "and more" that developed here in the 1400s and 1500s. It's been really cool because, as I walk around Florence in January 2008, I can imagine Lorenzo il Magnifico, Michelango, Brunelleschi - and so on and so on - "doing their thing" 500 years ago - and in so doing creating a revolution in Western thought. It's pretty amazing when you think about it that way.

For seconds, I've reached a point where I'm no longer necessarily enchanted by Italy. Don't misunderstand! I'm thrilled to be here. But I've been here long enough now to see things from the inside, and (as I think happens with a lot of idealized places, institutions, etc), thinks are shinier from the outside. I've been really fortunate to meet a bunch of interesting young Italians - I've been doing language exchanges, and meeting people through Hospitality Club, and, as usual, letting my nose lead me into "interesting" situation, They've also really helped me to see things Italy from a different perspective. In fact it's better to say from different perspectives . . . just as I attack people for accusing all 300 million Americans of being exactly the same, it'd definitely be unfair to overgeneralize about the "Italians." However! Since the only way to make sense of things for me (still an engineer?) is to talk about "the mean," I've been slowly developing my systemic analysis of "the Italians." The psychology, the beauty, the neuroses . . . all of it. Recognizing that a mean is a mean and only that, and that every society is made up of individuals varying from the mean . . . I still think it's worthwhile to think about generalizations . . . if only to make sense of what we see and to find some kind of "ideal ground". So here goes!

I have to say that I've been disappointed by the "Italian character" I've discovered. (It's the last disclaimer, I promise! You have to believe me that I don't mean everyone. Giovanni, Giacomo, Marilina, Tiziana, Valentina, Alessandro, Enzo, and everyone else is an individual - and they're all awesome!) But in general, here are some of the things that I've noticed, in a bothersome sort of way . . . with lots more "analysis" to come . . .

1. "Look both ways before acting." I'll start with something really simple. Italians are really rude on the street, and I think it comes from this: They are entirely unconcerned with everyone else. I expect this from the cars: it's part of the car culture, and it kind of works, in a "market economy of the road" of sorts. I'm really aggressive and disorderly, but so are you, and so we have to kind of be both competetitors and collaborators to make the road work. Ok, I kind of get that. But amongst pedestrians? Italians will walk seventeen people across the sidewalk. Will NEVER yield some room to someone walking in the other direction. Won't look before making a move - Why bother? I realized that what bothers me isn't so much that it's difficult to navigate Italian sidewalks. It's that there's this attitude that "I'm the only person that matters." Why should I care if I inconvenience someone else? I thought about it this way. It's a good rule of thumb to "look both ways before crossing the street." But more philosophically, it's a good rule of thumb to "look both ways before acting" - to think, at least on a rudimentary, superficial level, whether your actions will affect anyone else, and, if so, if you should therefore modify them to avoid unnecessary negative effects and generally promote harmonious coexistence. But an Italian doesn't do that. Hmmm, I think I'll go over here to the left. BAM! GO! Don't bother looking to see if there's a person there. Hmmm, I think I want to go to the cash register and ask the salesperson a queston. BAM! GO! Don't worry about it if there's already someone there, and already talking to the salesperson. Push your way to the front, push him out of the way and ask your question. See someone coming in the other direction? Don't worry about it. Find a construction bottleneck, stop directly in the middle of it, light a cigarette, and think for a while. It would take so little effort for someone to share the sidewalk. It wouldn't "cost" them anything - but they won't do it. So, obviously this has been bothering me for some time, but on a rather vague level. But something happened the other day that made me literally stop and think about it. I was running along the street, and, accustomed to the self-centered street behavior of Italians, I was in full juke-and-jive dodgeball mode. And then - someone sensed me coming from behind and, shock of all shocks, moved to one side of the sidewalk to let me easily pass on the other side. And I realized: This was the first time this has happened to me in Florence. The first time! Incredible, isn't it!? But here's the kicker. The man who let me pass? He was a blind man. He had the cane and the glasses and everything. The only Florentine with any awareness of anyone else was a blind man.

And with that . . . I'll leave the next piece of the "analysis" until the next time . !