OBSERVATION: Convenience over Community?

From my blogs, you probably have gotten the sense that the Italy I have grown fond of is more in smaller and medium villages and cities, than in the larger ones and that I have become fascinated by the social nature of the people and how their architecture and business supports this (piazzas, fountains, cafes, etc.). And I wonder if we have traded convenience for connection and community.

When you walk through most villages, you pass small shops - paniteria (bakery), cafes, bars, gelateria (ice cream - my favorite), macileria (sp? - butcher), alimentaria (gen grocer), tabacherie (misc & bus tickets), among others. None is overly busy, though sometimes about 4:30 the pharmacia seems to always get a line. But even the nature of businesses being locally run and owned contributes to supporting this social life.

I remember as a young boy in the early 70's, my hometown of less than 500 had two general - grocery stores - Buckworths (which also had a meat dept- butcher in the back) and Berthas. I loved buckworths, because they had a large glass case that was the checkout counter full of candy. To my eyes this was the world and I loved going in there and always hoped my mom or dad would relent and allow me one - most times they did (as I was always better behaved than my siblings!) I also remember a boyhood friend, Earl Pierce, who I thought was the luckiest guy in the world as he lived just 2 blocks from Buckworths and could go there EVERYDAY, while we lived so far away in the country (about a mile - funny how a mile aint so much to me right now!!!).

Berthas is a little store, I always remember as no one ever being in there, and Miss Bertha being an ancient large woman. She had candy, but not quite the display of Buckworths. I remember my mom and dad each on their own stopping at Berthas to buy bread or milk or something - whether we needed it or not, not because they are SOCIALISTS, but because they were Bertha's NEIGHBOR and friend and wanted to support her as much as they could.

In the 1960's, my grandfather who was a farmer and who sold fish out of his truck on  Saturday mornings to make ends meet, somehow found the capital and drive to open his own place - Bailey's Little Market - which was a general store that also carried fish and seafood (and in winter muskrats and coons). I remeber this store fondly - buying a quarters worth of candy and getting a dime in change from my grandpa. I see him sitting in the back of the store with four or five older men, just hanging about. By the 80's the store had largely changed into a seafood market and restaurant, not so much hanging out.

All of those memories of mine are now history - none exist anymore, and a Walmart Supercenter is now about 5 miles away.  When I walk thru Italy, I see community, and sturcutres that support community, and I see my past and what I believe is largely the past of the USA. When I sit in a cafe in the evening, I am alone usually - and it feels lonely. And I think how wonderful if my town at home was like this - whenever it was evening, I could just stroll out and bump into friends and family and catch up. But its not so easy now...ever tried to find something (let alone someone) in a Walmart?

There's an old story that goes if you put a frog in boiling water, he jumps out immediately, but if you put him in cool water and slowly heat it, he relaxes and then gets cooked. I feel sad, because I do think in someways, we are COOKED. And as I walked thru Italy's towns and villages - all too often I see new SUPERMERCARDOS (Coop, Conrad, Gulliver) popping up, and I hope that 50 years from now an Italian boy is not writing of his Bertha!