Quarantine Day 20: No one is singing in my neighbourhood
I know there has been so many videos around in Italy’s towns singing and playing music but honestly to me it looks as if it’s coming from another country. The videos emerged, atleast the ones that came my way were from the south of Italy. People closer to Mediterranean, people used to the warmth, people more like the Greeks and Turks warm blooded. More used to having fun and less judgemental, people with probably more judgements on their shoulders from the North Italians but with also hearts with pure joy.
What obviously people don’t know or don’t think about is that it is the North of Italy that is flooded with corona virus at the moment, not South. I mean at least not as much. I feel like it is easier to sing and play drums or trumpets in your windows when you are stuck in your houses for precaution…It is a different scenario when just 3 kms away from you 42 people have died in a hospital in a few days from the virus. I know most of you are kind of being cautious watching the virus from far away, and I think you should understand how lucky you are when you are reading this post.
This morning I was thinking and I thought to myself “ This happened so quickly”. Honestly when I think back to remember when it started: it wasn't like it started slowly and sneaked in our lives. On Saturday night while out at a family dinner we had news sent to us dinner table at Vicenza, saying we would not be able to travel in Treviso (our home), Venice and Padova from Sunday morning. Me and Tommy looked at each other with panicked eyes that also tried to hide our emotions to support one another, we packed, and drove as fast as we could home. In the rush we picked up a few canned food, some eggs, and some pasta from the shop in the highway.
It didn’t happen slowly, it changed our lives all of a sudden, all at once. I sometimes get angry when I see the posts of people who say “ It’s just like a flu”. If it was just like a flu, these measures wouldn’t have been taken. I know other diseases kill more but the other diseases are known and have their vaccinations .You can’t tell me its just like a flu when each day around 7 people die in Italy. You can’t tell me people are exaggerating when I am stuck at home, with no sports to do, no activities, no friends, no extended family, no work, and no happiness.
Like I told you, North of Italy is much colder than the South. People are more distant and can seem judgemental, they are not but can seem. There are more reserved to their personal lives instead of the Mediterranean mentality of help out your neighbour, support one another etc… So no, at 6 pm today there were no trumpets or no motivational chants to be heard. I am still trying to stay strong but today was tough. I just can’t accept this as my normal way of living..I can’t.
Good night x