Archive - Originally posted on "The Horse's Mouth" - 2008-03-17 00:36:45 - Graham Ellis
I have a number of sharp memories of Rome - a brief family visit there in July of 2004 (I think that was the year). Take a family group of somewhere between half a dozen and a dozen, all strong characters but with very different backgrounds and very different habits when holidaying / touring. Mix in what was - to me - an unbearable heat - and that made my wick somewhat short, shortened further by it being a very busy time so I was tired before the adventure started. You're probably getting the picture. And P, P and others - I probably owe you a very belated apology for any offense I may have caused.
Of all the sharp memories, the sharpest of the lot was of the Vatican. The queuing for what seemed like an eternity outside, a queue snaking around the wall with old, gnarled, crippled disabled women - all dressed in black - begging in their abject poverty from the tourists patiently inching forward for their visit. Then the offensive oppulance shown inside the Vatican itself - riches which I found obscene collected over centuries by the leaders of a religion of which the leader - in the last week or two - has just declared excessive wealth a new mortal sin. Interestingly, a quick search for the wording gave me a top hit in which someone else questions the hypocrisies of this.
Last week, I took my course delegates out into Melksham one blustery lunchtime. We gusted into a cafe in the Market Place, and found ourselves a table. The last one of the group failed to shut the door properly, and it blew ajar - at which one of the young ladies walked over from behind the counter and shut it with a scowl and needless venom. "Easter - From Attitude to Gratitude" said the card in the menu holder on our table.
So I guess it's all right, in their eyes, for these people to have excessive wealth or a sharp attitude that's clearly against others who make an innocent mistake. After all, all they need do is to confess their sins and they'll be able to sleep in peace at night. I don't share these beliefs, and I so I don't have such an easy time if I mess something up that effects others. But I do confess that I feel much happier with my own values and words that I do with the values and words that I see and hear when duty takes me to services, has me singing hymns, a couple of times in the last year. I go along out of respect for those around me who's decorum seems to indicate a deep belief. Yet sometimes I wonder.
I had a chance to take some wonderful pictures in Rome which I have had a brief looks through as I put this item together. I note that I didn't have the heart to photograph the beggar women.
Of all the sharp memories, the sharpest of the lot was of the Vatican. The queuing for what seemed like an eternity outside, a queue snaking around the wall with old, gnarled, crippled disabled women - all dressed in black - begging in their abject poverty from the tourists patiently inching forward for their visit. Then the offensive oppulance shown inside the Vatican itself - riches which I found obscene collected over centuries by the leaders of a religion of which the leader - in the last week or two - has just declared excessive wealth a new mortal sin. Interestingly, a quick search for the wording gave me a top hit in which someone else questions the hypocrisies of this.
I had a chance to take some wonderful pictures in Rome which I have had a brief looks through as I put this item together. I note that I didn't have the heart to photograph the beggar women.