EIGHTY-FIFTH
DAY
USA BLUES
December
7, 2005
It is
hard to believe I am remembering Pearl Harbor Day in Rome. Not one American today mentioned it to
me. Could I be the only American outside
of the US Embassy to be either in touch enough or old enough to remember
December 7? In lots of ways it was just
like 9/11, a real wake-up call for our country.
We were a lot more united as a people fighting that war. Everybody was in support and for the entire
time of the conflict. Maybe it was
because we were late in joining a host of allies as opposed to our current
virtually solo aggressive posture. I was
a little young, but I do not remember our guys being accused of torturing
prisoners of war even though our opposition was notoriously cruel. Whatever happened to our standards, our
innate civility? Frankly, I am shocked
by our behavior. It could be that I just
don’t understand. But bad guys are bad
guys no matter what they look like and while we don’t have to wear white hats,
our conduct should be better than theirs.
Still, I am proud to be an American and hope that we will eventually put
our ethics and standards back where they belong.
Both of
us are nursing little bugs, Kim with her stomach and me with another lousy
cold. I stayed low today but tomorrow we
journey out of the land of Aqueducts and Colosseo for a trip down the west
coast of Italy to the small seaport of Gaeta and then come back up the coast to
Castel Gondolfo where the Pope has his summer home. We will once again rent a car, not very hard
to do and always fun. The weather
promises to be ok i.e. no rain.
Tonight
the lady who gave the monoprint press to Temple U is taking us to dinner. It’s kind of her to reciprocate and we go to
one of our favorites in Monteverde. My
buddy, Mario, will come too. He is
amusing and smart. He understands and
speaks perfect English, probably the reason that I like him. It makes it so much easier.
Italy has
a national holiday tomorrow and everything will be closed up tight. Because it
is on a Thursday like Thanksgiving, people are squeezing another day out of
it. Who wants to go to work on
Friday? Even we Americans understand the
long weekend. Allora, Domani.
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