MOVING AND MONEY-SICILY AND NEW ORLEANS
I have been thinking of our move here three years ago as I think about the refugees from the hurricane having to start their lives all over again. I keep wondering how they are coping, now that reality has set in on them that they cannot go back home ever (or at best, not for a good long time). On a simple level, I think of them having to face starting all over and never having the things they had taken for granted, not ever again. The story teller in me takes over and little stories of loss and suffering flash through my head, and I wonder how they will fashion their new lives. I test little scenarios in my mind for their fiction value and decide the truth will be more interesting. I certainly do not think Barbara Bushs theory is true, that not all of them will have better lives, but I know most will have different lives. What is true though is that what they make of that change is up to them and how they can take advantage of what they are presented with. Still, the reality of starting all over again after a crisis is one of the greatest tales of history.
When I was a kid, my family was in the same house all of my childhood, and so did everyone elses family that I knew. So the idea of moving and living somewhere else always fascinated me. I quickly got over that after I had to do it. Before coming to Italy I had my share of moving, but it has always been something that has been necessary, but certainly not mandatory. It is a different matter when the only alternative is to start all over again from scratch. Still I know what it is to move to a place with almost nothing familiar.
We each brought 2 big suitcases here to Sciacca, and it took days to pack what we had been thinking about hard for several months. And then there are the simple things-the hangers, wastebaskets, scrub brushes, toothbrush holders, towels. How many of these things are in place in a new residence certainly varies from country to country, and from place to place. We rented a furnished apartment here and then bought a furnished house, but we still have had to spend a lot of money for things that were not part of either deal. A typical house rental or sale in Sicily involves the necessity to buy house furnishings from scratch, including refrigerator and stove, kitchen sink, and sometimes the toilet. Dont ever expect hangers or curtains unless you are charged for them.
No matter what, moving is always an expense in the long run, and it always reminds me of people who say that they hate a place but cannot afford to move. There may be cities, neighborhoods, or parts of the country people want to move out of, but when faced with packing up what they have and making the change, it is almost impossible on a limited budget. Most of the time, it is a simple matter of money that keeps people in places that do not bring them happiness. Yet there are other people that cannot emotionally expend the energy to think about changing their lives and their belongings. The sheer job of it expands with the amount of years lived in a place-what to take? what to throw away, give away, try to sell?
I think about the hundreds of thousands of evacuees in New Orleans, and especially I wonder what people thought was valuable that they made sure to pack when they evacuated. What were the important things to a family that thought they might return very soon? Pictures, medicines, personal cleanliness items and valuables of course, but how many clothes for each family member for such a supposedly brief evacuation? What luxuries, what of the little things that seem so important when you do not have them? Those are the details that fascinate me about so many people being forced to make so many decisions.
Anyway, there are decisions that will be made about such complex problems as whether or not to rebuild New Orleans in the same configuration. We love the city and want to visit it again when its rebuilt someday. But what a wake-up call for the US to recognize that not all of its citizens are mobile, and not all of them can be helped before some of them have to die for the lack of basic human needs. What is thought of as the most powerful, efficient (at least by Italian standards) and rich country in the world cannot now solve such complex environmental problems. This is quite a shock for the rest of the world! They figure if the US cant do it with its well-known riches, what hope do other countries have? The lack of an effective response before so many had to die does not help the current leaderships image either. Even main stream pro-Berlusconi (Bushs buddy) papers are talking about the Halliburton connection between Katrina and the contracts in Iraq. We will be keeping a close eye and ear at a distance to the latest developments in the Big Easy. Lets hope our federal government can make a priority of correcting some of the inequality that exists in America today and that was so graphically shown in that destroyed city.
When I was a kid, my family was in the same house all of my childhood, and so did everyone elses family that I knew. So the idea of moving and living somewhere else always fascinated me. I quickly got over that after I had to do it. Before coming to Italy I had my share of moving, but it has always been something that has been necessary, but certainly not mandatory. It is a different matter when the only alternative is to start all over again from scratch. Still I know what it is to move to a place with almost nothing familiar.
We each brought 2 big suitcases here to Sciacca, and it took days to pack what we had been thinking about hard for several months. And then there are the simple things-the hangers, wastebaskets, scrub brushes, toothbrush holders, towels. How many of these things are in place in a new residence certainly varies from country to country, and from place to place. We rented a furnished apartment here and then bought a furnished house, but we still have had to spend a lot of money for things that were not part of either deal. A typical house rental or sale in Sicily involves the necessity to buy house furnishings from scratch, including refrigerator and stove, kitchen sink, and sometimes the toilet. Dont ever expect hangers or curtains unless you are charged for them.
No matter what, moving is always an expense in the long run, and it always reminds me of people who say that they hate a place but cannot afford to move. There may be cities, neighborhoods, or parts of the country people want to move out of, but when faced with packing up what they have and making the change, it is almost impossible on a limited budget. Most of the time, it is a simple matter of money that keeps people in places that do not bring them happiness. Yet there are other people that cannot emotionally expend the energy to think about changing their lives and their belongings. The sheer job of it expands with the amount of years lived in a place-what to take? what to throw away, give away, try to sell?
I think about the hundreds of thousands of evacuees in New Orleans, and especially I wonder what people thought was valuable that they made sure to pack when they evacuated. What were the important things to a family that thought they might return very soon? Pictures, medicines, personal cleanliness items and valuables of course, but how many clothes for each family member for such a supposedly brief evacuation? What luxuries, what of the little things that seem so important when you do not have them? Those are the details that fascinate me about so many people being forced to make so many decisions.
Anyway, there are decisions that will be made about such complex problems as whether or not to rebuild New Orleans in the same configuration. We love the city and want to visit it again when its rebuilt someday. But what a wake-up call for the US to recognize that not all of its citizens are mobile, and not all of them can be helped before some of them have to die for the lack of basic human needs. What is thought of as the most powerful, efficient (at least by Italian standards) and rich country in the world cannot now solve such complex environmental problems. This is quite a shock for the rest of the world! They figure if the US cant do it with its well-known riches, what hope do other countries have? The lack of an effective response before so many had to die does not help the current leaderships image either. Even main stream pro-Berlusconi (Bushs buddy) papers are talking about the Halliburton connection between Katrina and the contracts in Iraq. We will be keeping a close eye and ear at a distance to the latest developments in the Big Easy. Lets hope our federal government can make a priority of correcting some of the inequality that exists in America today and that was so graphically shown in that destroyed city.
posted by Sicilian Mama at 4:17 PM
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