What is the point of leisure? Compare and contrast Italian culture to your own as it relates to leisure.

Having time to leisure is a necessity in life. Both the Italians and the Americans leisure, they just do it in different ways. The Americans typically spend their leisure time sitting in front of a television. At best they get out of the house to play a game of golf. Italians, on the other hand, spend their time working out, meeting friends for coffee, grocery shopping, or walking their dogs in the more peaceful parts of the city. I know if I had the time to leisure during my regular work day I would spend it with my dog in the grassy fields near the aqueducts or in the calm and quiet parks of the Borghese Gardens.

Leisure is a necessity in order for people to remain sane. It is impossible to perform at a highly productive rate in the work place without taking some time to recharge the batteries. The Italians do a great job in taking time out of the day for leisure by having siesta in the afternoons from 1pm-4pm. Having a break like this allows them to be more productive in the times they actually work, because they know they will have time to relax in the afternoon. Americans on the other hand, has little time in the day, especially the workday, for leisure. Often times people work between 40-80 hours a week and whatever free time they do have is filled with doing other chores that are necessary in life. This could be things like picking up the kids from school, cooking dinner, or even just sleeping. Italians also find pleasure in the little things. Barzini explains this when he says, “Above all he believed in all kinds of physical pleasures. The feel of a panting horse at a gallop between his knees, a swim at dawn in the sea, rare perfumes, the killing of enemies in battle, and the endless delights of women’s bodies.” These things cannot be enjoyed, it least not so in depth, if you are working for so many hours. It is in times of leisure that Italians become the most connected with the beautiful life around them.

The Italians tend to be very relaxed in nature. I believe this comes from them having so much time to for leisure. It gives them a lot of time to reflect on things. Like Barzini says, “They mind their own business. They behave with circumspection, caution and even cynicism. They are incredulous: they do not want to be fooled by seductive appearances and honeyed words. They cannot afford to be carried away by emotions. They keep them under control.” I have noticed when walking around Rome. Sometimes you see things that may not always be right, and yet, people rarely do anything. They just mind their own business.

In conclusion, Italians go about leisure differently than Americans. Their work day is better because of it and the people are more happy and refreshed. They are living life to the fullest, the way it should be lived. Not just in a desk chair for 10 hours a day. I think Americans sometimes forget that. Life is better lived when enjoying the little things, as Barzini describes, “But then you listen to people talk in cafes, watch them diffidently buy fish or fruit in an open-air market, watch them rapturously listening to sonorous band-music, watch old men smile to an unknown pretty girl in the street…” Italians love their leisure time and it is not hard to see why in such a beautiful country. 

Do people have control over their health?

I believe that it is impossible to have complete control of one’s health. There are just too many outstanding circumstances; circumstances that people have no say in, for someone to have complete control of their health. Yes a person can run 5 miles a day, eat an exquisite diet, and take vitamins every morning but the truth of the matter is they still do not have control of what their health might be. Sara Robinson describes this well when she says, “The fact is that bad genes, bad luck, and the ravages of age eventually take their toll on all of us—even the most careful of us.” What if that same person, the one who runs 5 miles a day, was born with type II diabetes or maybe a form of leukemia? Before they even get the chance to have a say in their life about how healthy they may want to be, they have health problems. With these health problems comes expensive health bills, bills that many cannot afford.

The life expectancy has risen steadily over the last centuries. Advances in technology have happened to help people live longer. Some of these advances I have experienced first-hand. This includes the aqueducts and even the Roman baths. Being able to have drinkable water and also just being able to bathe oneself went a long way in preventing diseases at that time. However, even with these precautions, people still had no real control over their health. Nowadays, our health care is state of the art. But even with these advances, not everyone uses them. The main cause of this is the price. As Gaudium states, “Many people, especially in economically advanced areas, seem, as it were, to be ruled by economics, so that almost their entire personal and social life is permeated with a certain economic way of thinking.” In other words, if they cannot afford the health care, they will not get it. Something should be done to stop this, as they cannot better control their own health without it.

Living a healthy lifestyle goes a long way, but there is still a big opportunity for something to happen, perhaps a crisis of some sort. Maybe it’s a natural disaster, maybe its war, or maybe its something as simple as your family members having a condition that passes down to you. These are all things that cannot be prevented. Things can be done to prepare sure, but there is no foolproof way of going through life 100 percent risk free.

Another contributor to one’s health is the profession in which they work. A simple desk job might not be to strenuous on the health, expect maybe lack of exercise, but a job that requires physical labor increases the chances of health problems. These professions are that of mechanics, the armed forces, emergency responders, and construction. The mining profession is especially a health risk. I have experienced this first hand through my father getting a form of leukemia from when he used to work in the pits as a teenager. Back then, nobody really paid any attention to health standards or what chemicals workers were being exposed to.

In conclusion, I believe that no one has complete control over their health. No matter what preventive measures taken, there is still no guaranteed way to never get sick or to never get injured in some way. Another quote from Robinson that I think fits is, “Since none of us can control fate, the least we can do is be there for each other as our numbers come up.” Because we cannot control our fate, why not help each other by providing universal health care to help protect people from the unexpected and unpredictable things that life can throw at them?

How does the piazza provide a lens towards Italian culture?

Piazzas are very common in Italy. Especially in bigger cities like Florence, Venice, and Rome. After visiting all of these cities I have started to develop a greater understanding of Italian culture and life by walking through these piazzas and seeing everything that is inside them. This includes people meeting to go to lunch, famous sculptures, and even fountains.

One thing I have noticed is people always meet in piazzas. I believe the main reason for this is because Italian houses are so small and compact that it makes it hard to have enough room to have friends or family over. This is contradictory to the Americans, who like to invite people over to their spacious houses and show off what they have. This could be different things like a new pool or deck, or maybe even just a nice furniture set with a big flat screen TV. Because Italians can't do this, they show off by the clothes and the accessories that they wear. From Armani suits to Rolex watches, Italians can quickly gather information from each other on how successful they are by what they are wearing.  

When walking through a piazza you can see many different things. Sometimes you may be in an empty square in the middle of a small neighborhood. All of the shutters are closed and you could virtually hear a pin drop. These are my favorite because it allows you to take in all the beauty around you in the architecture of the building, or the clothes being hung to dry outside windows. I feel this shows the tranquility of Italian culture, of how laid back their lives can be, finding the beauty in the smallest things. Barzini says something similar when he says, “Dull and insignificant moments in life must be made decorous and agreeable with suitable decorations and rituals. Ugly things must be hidden, unpleasant and tragic facts swept under the carpet whenever possible.” I see this the most in empty piazzas. There is not one thing happening in them, yet everything is elegant and all the ugliness seems to be vacant, as if swept under the carpet.

Most piazzas aren’t empty however, a lot of them are full of hundreds of people. They could be crowding around a famous fountain, or maybe a famous church that is nearby. Stalls are all around with vendors trying to sell various little trinkets. In the corner a trio of men will be playing a classic rock song like “Hotel California”.  People will group together to listen and then donate coins into the empty guitar case. It is in these types of piazzas that you can really see different cultures come together. I say different cultures because a lot of times it is tourists that are gathered around the fountains and sculptures. The simplest things like children kicking a ball or a small trio of men playing music just seems so much more beautiful when in these piazzas. I like when Barzini says, “Once foreigners begin to understand that things are not always exactly what they look like, that reality does not have to be dull and ugly, they are no longer the same.” I have come to feel a similar experience when walking through different piazzas. You really do realize that the littlest things in life are beautiful in their own way. I believe I will take that with me wherever I go in Italy. I have the Italian piazzas to thank for that.

One last thing I like about Piazzas is how much history you are standing in. Each piazza has its own history. Simon Schama describes this well in Smiles when he says, “But the Fountain of the our Rivers does, after all, stand in a circus, for the Piazza Navona preserves in its oval shape the stadium of the Agonale Circus, where, during the reign of the emperor Domitian, games were regularly held. From the late fifteenth century, the piazza was the site of a thriving Wednesday market, where hawkers sold all kinds of food, wine, household wares, and tools. And as was often the case with such places, it rapidly developed into a kind of street fair, too, with jugglers and quacks jostling for space amidst the throng.” This just shows how much history you can find in just one piazza. I find it very interesting to hear about the history of the piazza and then seeing how it has transformed over the years.

One thing I do know is that I will miss the piazzas when I return home. There really is nothing like it.

People from all over the world come to the Cleveland Clinic for care yet not everyone in Cuyahoga County is healthy, explain.

People do come from all over the world to the Cleveland Clinic, the number one ranked hospital in the U.S., for their health care needs. One thing it is not rated number one at, however, is its affordability. Providing the best care means that you have to have the best technologies and resources available for you to use. These advanced resources come at a very high price. Millions of dollars have to be invested into research by health companies in order to develop these revolutionary medicines and health equipment. These companies then have to earn all that expense back and also earn a profit on top of that. That is a very big bill for health care providers like the Cleveland Clinic to pay. Because it so expensive to purchase, the Cleveland Clinic then has to bill its patients the same high price. The cost of the best health care is very expensive. So expensive, that the average household in Cuyahoga County would struggle to afford it. This is why some people in Cuyahoga County are not getting the best health care in the country, even though it is in their backyard.

According to Ben Furnas, “Since 1994, the cost per person of American Health Care has more than doubled, with an annual growth rate regularly more than twice that of inflation.” The cost of health care is going to continue to rise every year. Something has to be done to stop this. Even with the most advanced health care, that people travel from all over to receive, we are not the healthiest country. Italy alone has a better infant mortality rate and life expectancy than that of the U.S.

Some people might say that it is the American lifestyle that has caused us to not be as healthy. This lifestyle is one of low exercise and poor nutrition. However, other countries in the world could not be beating us in areas such as infant mortality as consistently as they have been if it were not for the way their health care system was set up. This is one of my biggest arguments for universal health care; all the countries that practice it tend to have healthier citizens than we do. They are healthier because they can afford the coverage. Clark Newhall says, ”Millions of us are suffering and millions more will suffer soon. More than 20,000 people die each year in this famine because they cannot afford the price of for-profit health insurance. “ That statistic would drop drastically, maybe even to none if those people could afford the right coverage.

Some people are against universal health care because of various reasons. These reasons are mainly that they don’t want to pay for someone else’s problems, or that by socializing the health system there would be no more incentive for competition and medical advances would virtually halt. That places like the Cleveland Clinic would no longer be the number one place to get health care because they would no longer be able to research new medicine. I ask these people, when is it time to say enough is enough? How much farther into debt must we go as a country and how much more should health providers charge for it to be considered too expensive? Something has to be done. Other countries rank above the U.S. in various areas of health because their citizens are able to afford it. Why have the best health care if the majority of our population cannot even afford it? 

Does history contribute/bolster faith, or does the past limit faith?

 I believe that history plays a part in both contributing to and limiting faith. I have certainly felt a greater connection to God since being in Rome. Rome after all is a very historic city that is centered on the Roman Catholic religion. The number of churches is simply astounding. Even more astounding is just how beautiful and magnificent they are. When being surrounded by all this religious history in the form of churches, tombs of bishops/popes and various Saints, and monuments it is hard not to feel a greater connection with religion, especially because you are experiencing it all first-hand. However, not everyone gets to live in or travel to cities like Rome and see all of these marvelous things. Many go their whole lives without being able to. Other factors such as science and the media have also contributed to people losing or not having any faith at all. It is for this reason that I believe that history limits faith.

We are living in the information age. Any question that we may have about any subject can be easily answered within a few minutes on the Internet. This is great for solving most of society’s problems, however, it is my opinion that is not good for religion. The number of atheists is growing every year. These atheists are becoming more accepted in our society because they publish and post their viewpoints for everyone to read, thus gaining more supporters.

A big reason for this is the fact that Christ walked the earth 2000 years ago. In today’s world, where many do not know history from 50 years ago, this is a stretch. Moreover, since Christ has walked the earth there have been vast advances in technology, which has allowed us to gather a greater understanding of science and how everything works. Theories have been formed that prove the creation story false. They have been proven in logical ways, ways that are easily understood in today’s world, not like that of the words used in biblical times. It is because of this that many people, even people that actively practice faith, have their doubts.

History has allowed us time to change as a culture. In the bible it says, numerous times, that homosexuality is a sin. Look at how little of time it took for us as a society to accept homosexuals and simply say it’s ok. Even if the bible says otherwise. Little things like this are what cause people to turn away from religion/faith. People have adapted to become more analytical thinkers. Every child goes through science courses in school that talk about the Big Boom theory etc. Videos between scientists and religious figures debating the creation story go viral on the web. In today’s world, thanks to time (i.e. history), people are more likely to not have faith or not be fully convinced. It is a harsh truth, but it was one that we as a society are dealing with.

I am a Christian; I have been my entire life. I believe that God sent his son Jesus Christ to die on a cross for all of our sins so that we could be reborn. I believe that 3 days later he rose into heaven. However, I would be lying to you and myself if I said I did not it least think once or twice about how logical the science behind the creation theories are. About the science showing how the earth is billions of years old. It is because of this that I think history has, unfortunately, limited faith.

I found it hard to incorporate readings into this blog post, as a lot of it was just of my personal opinion that today’s technological age has made it hard for many to see the light. I will end this post with a quote from Peters’ First Letter that I believe holds true in an age where so much is up for debate and the Devil’s temptation is stronger than ever. In it he says, “Free your minds, then, of encumbrances, control them, and put your trust in nothing but the grace that will be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed. Do not behave in the way that you liked to before you learnt the truth; make a habit of obedience: be holy in all you do, since it is the Holy One who has called you, and scripture says: Be holy, for I am holy…”