Week Two GL 350

“Because you don't notice the light without a bit of shadow. Everything has both dark and light. You have to play with it till you get it exactly right.” – Libba Bray

Have you ever sat at a party, a shopping mall, or a coffee shop, and simply watched what was going on around you? Have you even been the mouse in the corner? I find these “wallflower” experiences to be unexplainably intriguing. Not because I know the people, because I usually don’t, and not because they are really even that interesting, because they usually aren’t. But more so, it is intriguing to experience feeling alone in an area that is so crowded with people. It is an oxymoron in action, a true contradiction, and I find it endlessly intriguing. We use these contradictory phrases such as “deafening silence” or “cruel kindness,” but the truth is, we only know they exist to us once we have experienced them for ourselves. British journalist H.V.Morton has described Rome as being both “exhilarating and oppressive” at the same time, and at first, it is difficult to imagine that these two experiences could possibly co-exist. But like I previously mentioned, it is impossible to completely understand these contradictions until they are experienced.

Undoubtedly, Rome is exhilarating to the mind, body, and soul. There is a certain feeling within this place that enthralls you and convinces you that you are as free as you choose to be. Barzini writes about this “charm” of Italy, when he says, “It made and still makes unwanted people feel wanted, unimportant people feel important, and purposeless people believe that the real way to live intelligently is to have no purpose in life.” I feel he is correct in his description. Rome is foreign and refreshing, beautiful and unique, and not to mention, offers the some of the best food I have eaten in my short nineteen years of life. As Barzini puts it, “As a rule, the food is good in Italy.” This exhilarating feeling gives travelers the idea that this is what the real “purpose” in life should be: to live in the moment, enjoy fine wine and meals, and experience beauty sights in the history of Rome. Even the Italian language itself is exhilarating. The simple and seemingly effortless way natives speak their language is like the thread that ties all of Italy’s beauty together.

While I have experienced these things that make Rome exhilarating and enjoyed them far more than I can explain, it is also necessary to mention the ways in which Rome is harsh to the traveler. It is almost as though one cannot be separated from the other, exhilaration and oppression, because they come together. In Rome, with great beauty and excitement comes oppression lurking in its midst. Rome is foreign and polluted, grimy and defaced, and not to mention swarmed with traffic both on foot and in cars. Ginzburg finds the traffic downright repulsive when she writes, “It’s not even possible to exchange an affectionate word or glance with the city anymore. Cars overrun its sidewalks. It is stricken by cars as by some malignant disease.” Things here have changed from what I imagine they used to be. Graffiti covers the city buildings and walls, foreigners come here to sell cheap goods in some of the most beautiful historical places, and garbage and smoke choke the city. Barzini writes about the bustle when he says, “People rush about with a frown on their faces as if they had but a few minutes to find a doctor and save a human life.” Is that what Rome is becoming? Or is the just the generation of people who exist here?

While I can only hope that is the latter of the two, the incredible contradiction will continue because Rome is truly both “exhilarating and oppressive.” Take for example the Colosseum. It is one of the most awe-inspiring sights I have ever seen in my life. It is beautiful, mysterious, and as the name implies, incredibly colossal. On the surface you have a striking historical piece of remains from Ancient Rome and yet, at the same time, you have a place that has seen so much death and devastation that it is impossible to know just how many Christians’ graves unknowingly exist under the ground. Look at the history of the Piazza del Popolo, one of the most popular gathering areas for modern travelers. It was once a main area for holding public executions in Ancient Rome! And maybe think twice about the quite and calm that resides in the elaborate cathedrals that are scattered throughout the city, for in those churches also resides grave sights of religious life under your very feet. Rome is a contradiction; it is both dark and light, and exhilarating and oppressive.