This past week I was in Bologna Italy. It’s a city I have been in before years ago, and was primarily coming here so I could explore the country: San Marino. I didn’t have much plans to do in Bologna, but to wander around town and rest, as I processed the earlier parts of my journey. Perhaps I would get some Bolognese, where it was invented.
On the afternoon I arrived, I stumbled onto this park. It wasn’t very big, and was quite mundane. It was a hot early August day, and people sought relief from the sun by the shades of the trees. Some homeless men lied on benches, there was some a sprinkling of young men gathering and smoking marijuana, teenagers chatted and played cards, a barefoot toddler cried as his mother took him away from the fountain as he didn’t want to leave his playground. But as I walked further, I found a tranquil café. Chilled out Radiohead style music set the atmosphere. I sat down and observed what was occurring around me. A young skateboarder was being chaperoned and cheered by his mother, who had a newborn baby in her arms. Young lovers kissed, as if nobody else could knew they were there. Older men sat at a table drinking beer as they caught up, large dogs napped on the ground next to their owners. A tired bicycle food delivery man napped on a bench. Children played on a mini playground, which was next to a book exchange. A young boy sighed as he missed the basketball hoops, while taking shots. Two people one wouldn’t picture as friends played checkers, while another woman waited at a nearby table to play the winner. The waitress greeted regulars. A variety of races and ethnicities were represented in the people I observed.
There was nothing special about this park, but this is what brought tears to my eyes. I found universality in this park. These exact activities are happening in parks all over the world. Parks serve as a place of tranquility as we seek refuge from the sun. I felt so grateful I could witness it. This was not a tourist park, there was nothing fancy to see, but what I witnessed warmed my heart. I felt so grateful that in this year, I’ve been able to go to similar parks in New York City, Paris, New Orleans, Malaga, Bulgaria, North Macedonia, Philadelphia, and Los Angeles to see the same thing. I know if I lived in this city, I would probably be walking my dog Bella everyday here and taking comfort in the shade.
Sometimes it’s in these simple moments of witnessing the similarities in humanity that makes me so grateful for life. Despite language barriers, customs, ethnicities, age, or eras our everyday lives may be more similar than we expect. There is beauty in this, and we forget. We are tricked by the disguises we wear, the superficiality we see in our skin tones or clothes that grace our bodies. Essentially we are the same, and if we could only see that, there would be such peace. We all yearn for connection, comfort, joy, and love. And the more we can see past the superficiality, we could access this common thread that unites us all.
In a recent Brazilian dance workshop I attended, we had to “cut” in and break up two people dancing. There was no hard feelings, as this was part of the process to have your place in the center with a person you wanted to dance with. How we asked the other person to leave, is we opened our arms and had our belly buttons touch. This welcomed in one, as the other left the group and went back to the outer circle. It was very intimate, warm, and jolly. The universal thread of the umbilical cord that binds us all. This is the image that arises as I reflect on those quiet moments in the park on that sunny summer day in Bologna. There’s unification in the mundane, and if we can recall this, a joyful smile may grace our faces.
It Only Takes A Smile 