POSTCARDS & PROSECCO

SORRENTO, ITALY

EDITION 02  MARCH 2018

I walk by this Angel Statue nearly every day. She stands in memory of the Italian soldiers lost in the battles of World War I. The sword wielding angel, faces the water in the direction of Naples and stands directly in front of a school.

Italy is a country that reveres its children and has fewer of them than ever before. The birthrate here continues to decline and is one of the lowest in all of Europe. The children that are here are beloved. It seems as if everyone, young and old, joyfully acknowledges and warmly greets children in this country. A new baby and a beamingly proud mother in the neighborhood are treated like celebrities, with people running out of stores or across the piazza to greet them. It’s extraordinarily wonderful to see children so cherished, protected, and well cared for.

I participated in a language roundtable this week, talking in person with local Italians seeking to practice their English. As you can imagine, my table had questions that quickly turned political. But more than the tariffs, and the President himself, my table wanted to talk about guns in America. Here, the idea of guns in schools is vastly incongruent with the cultural values of the country. It seems so simple here, you protect and cherish what you love. And Italians love their children and families above all else.

The conversations, the continued shootings, the marches across the nation have all left me thinking a great deal about students, safety, and America. Progress is possible but change is necessary.

My time abroad makes it clear to me what makes America special is the opportunity it afford her citizens. Over our short history, Americans have continually adapted, changed, and evolved. In my lifetime I have seen changes to automobile safety; seatbelts, car seats, and MADD radically changing the course of drunk driving. I have seen changes in smoking regulations, prohibiting it from restaurants and while on airplanes. As a nation we’ve passed laws regulating the amount of advertising to children, while changing the legal drinking age, the legal age to buy cigarettes, and legalizing marijuana. Most recently, individual states stepped forward and lead the way to legalizing gay marriages.

We’ve faced divisive issues before and we’ve reached solutions that ultimately leave us better as a nation. The words of President Lincoln remind us that, “We are not enemies, but friends. We must not be enemies. Through passion may have strained, it must not break our bonds of affection. The mystic chords of memory will swell when again touched, as surely they will be, by the better Angels of our nature.” I pray the better angels will lead the way and effective policy change will be swiftly enacted on both the state and federal levels. I’m encouraged by the call to action I’ve seen and pray that someone in the halls of Congress, or leading one of the great States of our Union will stand like this sword wielding angel and protect what is most precious to so many of us– our children.