A Celebration Dampened by Tragedy

I awoke Friday morning eager to celebrate my first year of Alan's Italy. It was hard to believe that the project that started on December 9 as a pilot, but really began the next Friday, December 16 as a live broadcast, had been repeated 43 additional times, and blossomed into a whole enterprise (not for profit, of course) which has included lectures, books, and some minor acclaim. I had my car repaired, spend two hours at the Y, walking two miles and swimming laps, and then came home to hone the final design of the show. I sat in my den as I reviewed the slide show I had prepared highlighting the most beautiful and meaningful photos I had shown during the previous year. I modified the choice of my favorite videos we had taken since 2006 when we first started to use digital photography, and then was satisfied that I had a show which I wanted.

A few minutes later my friend texted me about the terrible tragedy that had occurred in Conn, and I turned on the TV to witness the unspeakable and unimaginable horror that had befallen citizens of this country. It is almost impossible to imagine the thought of sending your child to school, and having them murdered by a madman. As a father and grandfather I can empathize, but really as my mother told me when her daughter, my sister, in 1981 was killed in a car accident, "Alan, there is no feeling that even comes close to the overwhelming sadness that overcomes a parent when they lose a child." I was riveted to the TV for about an hour, but could not stop tearing up, so after a while I turned off the Television.

I had in this space originally a paragraph on how I thought schools throughout this country could prevent violence, but then changed my mind about voicing my opinion about a topic about which I am hardly an expert. About 4 or 5 people may have read it, and I honestly feel better about dealing with this national tragedy by letting the professionals advise. I apologize to those people for voicing my opinion about such a calamity. I think I will stick to opinions about Italy and my own issues with my TV show. I do believe that the United States has to come to grips with this problem happening way too often.

Please tune in to the show or Youtube next week for what is so far planned to be a study of the sculpture of Marino Marini as found in the wonderful museum in Florence which honors his outstanding work, and/or to this blog for further reflections on Alan's Italy.