I write this post in the midst of our two week stint in Northern Italy. Traveling with a toddler poses its share of challenges. I won’t belabor you with details. But, you can imagine what one needs to keep at peace a highly irrational being, that is hungry every 2 hours, requires a precise napping regimen, and is constantly surprising you with what it can produce in a diaper.
Sure there were times when I thought, “Man, this would be so much better without him here." But, then there were times when watching his eyes fill with joy filled my heart with the same. He’s getting to experience the world in a way I was never able to when I was his age.
At the end of the day, if we’re going to travel the world, we are going to do it with him in tow. And travel we must. We must experience the breadth of human culture. There are few better cures against creeping xenophobia. Seeing how other people live, reminds you that your way of life is just that. Your way of life.
It also helps that Italians absolutely love children. Countless strangers have engaged with Luca, even caressing his cheeks or tussling his hair. This is something that never happens in the United States. I think Americans are hesitant to engage with children for fear of social reproach. Somewhere in the last few decades we moved from a culture like the Italians, where all children are loved, to one where a child is the sole purview of the parents. Do not touch. Perhaps this was a response to the stranger danger days of the early ‘90s, but things have swung too far. We need to go back.
Speaking of history. I’ve been watching the Netflix series WWII: From the Frontlines. It’s a docuseries that colorizes archival footage from the war, and it is a must watch. It’s a silly thing, but seeing the videos in color makes the events all the more real. The people are no longer aliens from a black and white planet. They look just like you and me.
The Axis Powers consisting of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan were responsible for some of the most heinous crimes against humanity in all of human history. They came to an end in 1945 with the close of WWII. I imagine a cordial relationship with the Allied powers was unthinkable at the time.
But, alas, here I am. An American traveling in Italy and being treated to an old world hospitality unlike anything I’ve experienced before. I get to marvel at it’s history, spanning centuries, and I get to taste the delicious cuisine, with it’s roots generations in the past.
It is a great testament to the power of time. Oh, how things can change.