November 9, 2023

Taking a tiny moment to appreciate Rome in the late fall and her brilliant light and this gentleman locking up his bike to do some shopping (or perhaps he’s buying a bouquet of flowers or getting a coffee with his friends).

There’s a distinct feeling of community when you live in a city (Rome) where everyone lives on top of each other.

Where people walk around right outside their homes and chit-chat and make (constant) convivial small talk.

There is hate and bigotry here too, of course. But the conversations between people with opposing belief systems go on longer and don’t necessarily end in outright hostility.

It’s harder to hate someone when you’re having a conversation with them face to face.

I do know that (almost all) humans experience the same range of emotions, from sadness to anger to grief to doubt to joy and back again.

Talk to the people around you. Engage in dialogue without an expected outcome. Be willing to learn and to grow and to seed community.

Full disclosure: I was planning on just posting this video without words. Then the words came. Sending love to all those who are suffering and struggling 🫶