I believe that starting with the
questions, observations, perceptions about things by other people it’s a good
system of research. Looking for an answer, a solution or simply meditating
around an opinion we would have never thought before it’s a the first step for
understanding,
The question I
want to answer ( or better, I will try to answer, filtering reality through my
experiences and feelings) is:
-
What is there to do on your island? –
Of course the
island is not “mine” with the meaning that I own it, but just that I was born
on it.
The answer is:
-
Nothing. –
Some memory in
the back of my brain often reminds me that nothing is better than doing nothing
if someone want to do something.
It ‘s because
sometimes the Nothing is made by Something. And the Something is not
necessarily little. Just it is not visible at the first sight and needs some
attention – and time - to be seen.
The miracle of
the sweetness of the sea urchin taste in the middle of the saltiness of the
sea; the lines of the vines climbing from the granite rocks up to the hill; the
faces carved by sun; the unbelievable crystal clear water reflecting the sun
light with a wide range of brilliant
colours and of which soon someone would realize cannot do without – as soon
people will realize how much the transparency is fundamental in life: this is
part of the Something you would start to see behind the curtains of the Nothing
just after the first steps on the island.
-
Any discoteque…? –
-
Any attractions
park…? -
Yes and no.
No if someone
has got a standardized idea of fun: there are no Shopping Centres with air conditioning shot out from powerful
machines.
The idea here
is the least standard: create your own fun.
As well as
people has been able to elaborate their own Modus Vivendi – way of life – on
the island: creating their own economy based on particular techniques of
cultivations,
fishing,
breeding and developing their own customs and cooking; fighting, throughout the
centuries, against pirate invaders as
well as against the daily problems generated by an isolated life; finding,
among the personal controversies, a common solidarity to protect themselves
against bad weather and enemies; children inventing their fun games without
toys; gathering in someone’s cellar for a dinner soaked with their own wine and
cheered by invented poems in a
rhyme and songs;
getting lost in the softness of a white beach;
rolling in the sand like a candy in the sugar....
meeting the most ancient disco of the world:
it has been existing since before the invention of the records.
It takes time to see the “at the first time
Invisible” for multiple reasons; not
least that it takes time to enter the circle of the islanders and gain their
confidence. Nowadays, being able to see the secular culture is even more
invisible as it covered by a layer of modern life: fast boats – rather than
veil vessels - , cars – rather than donkeys -, cell phones –
rather than
hours of walking -, micro wave ovens – rather than healthy fish grilled
directly on the beach -, computers are here exactly as anywhere else.
Although all
this nothing, most of the people who have had the fortune to land upon this
rock with the hope to find nothing, go away
with hidden tears wetting their cheecks and the new awareness to have had
the most fun in their life: unforgettable foods, wine made by the Gods, songs
like moving ballads, liberating laughs and lost words.
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