Given tHat the history of mankind is mostly the story of wars, one vicious, bloody conflict after another, it's safe to say that there's always a lot we don't like about peoples other than us. Thus, despite the fact that the the Italians, as a whole, are people of enormous talent, charm, warmth, beauty and taste, as one moves among them it's hard , given ones humanity, not to think about all the really strange things about how they live. After being in the country a week, I'd like to discuss a few random observations, issues I'd like the Italians to think about:
1. Pick up the garbage, people.
For a people who obviously value personal hygiene, grooming, and style, you certainly are lax when it comes to the the looks of your streets and parks . Perhaps some percentage of your 40-50 percent unemployed could be conscripted to deal with the mountains of trash that fill the curbs of even the chicest of neighborhoods. The other day I saw a elegantly dressed women in Chiaia delicately scooping her miniature poodle's droppings unmindful that she was standing in her Jimmy Choo's ..almost ankle deep in the overflow from a street side trash bin.
2. Hey kids..enough with the spray paint.
Graffiti is so last millennium...it's amusing to see in Pompeii. Now just stop writing all over everything on the street that doesn't move. Everywhere in Italy ...even in the poorest sections... is architectural splendor the equal of any in the world. However, spray painting your name on it doesn't give you credit for it.
3. Slow down.
Almost half of you aren't late for work anyway...so what's the rush?
4. Turn off that awful music!
Rock and roll is a particularly American art form, one not easily mastered by our friends in other lands (ABBA? Il Divo?) I know that your ubiquitous Euro-pop pounding out of speakers in your tiny cars, piped into subway stations, broadcast in public parks is not meant as an insult to everything Americans hold dear about their indigenous art form, but how would you feel if we drew mustache on the Mona Lisa and called it art? Indulge in this stuff in private.
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