My dad an I went on a tour of Lucca, Italy. It’s the only Italian city state in the region that wasn’t conquered by the Medici at some point, mostly because of the massive city walls and moat surrounding the city. Apparently when the last of the Medici died, and Florence was in mourning, all the folks in Lucca got trashed on champagne. At least that’s what our tour guide said… The picture is of the interior of the Cathedral of St. Martin. The sun had just come out, and was shining through stained glass windows, casting an image of the stained glass in light on the opposing wall. It just really made an impression on my Dad and I.
Some thoughts on identity and context. In my previous post, I mentioned that decided to keep personal details at a minimum for certain reasons. Privacy isn’t the reason I’ve decided to keep personal details at a minimum, although I am a relatively private person already. Rather, I’ve chosen not to share personal details because I believe travel presents a unique opportunity to explore relationships and identity without details that we’ve become accustomed to, and perhaps dependent on.
The long story short is it occurred to me that for better or worse, some of the details of my education and career have afforded me a relatively privileged position in society, and in particular in DC. Which isn’t bad in and of itself, it just makes me wonder how much of my self-esteem/confidence/pride is based on that stuff. I wonder if I’ve become too wrapped up or dependent on that stuff. More importantly, it makes me wonder what effect this has on relationships and interactions with people, and what happens to my identity and relationships if all of that is taken away. So that’s what travel also affords- the opportunity to become anonymous and nondescript. Generally no one knows if your rich, educated, powerful, or whatever.
I think I’m choosing not to say anything about my career and education in particular, because I’m concerned that I’ve gotten too much out of stuff. It’s certainly gotten me privilege in a town like DC. DC can be a little superficial like that. I suspect that it might be kind of hard at first- I’m honestly really accustomed to starting conversations with, “Hi, what do you do…” But at the end of the day I also hope and believe that when we stop defining people based on things like education, influence, wealth, success, or whatever, that we open ourselves to be known and accepted in a more authentic and meaningful way…
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