WHENEVER it rains hard and there is a flood on our streets and many get stuck at home, we always remember a memorable tour we had of Venice in Italy at the canals even if it was several years ago.
With one other couple in our tour group who came from Perth, Australia, we rode on a gondola and were serenaded on board by a troubadour singing an old romantic song, “Sorento”, with his guitar.
Our Italian guide was telling us the story how the canals came to be built. He said that Venice, once occupied by fishermen, always had a flooding problem because of its low land area, especially during high tide or heavy rainfall. So instead of maintaining the roads which got flooded anyway most of the time, they made them into canals winding all over the town. That was how the gondolas with the singing troubadours were born, and the rest is history.
We are thinking of many of our cities and our flooding problems. Whenever it rains hard, if we cannot repair them, we just convert our streets into canals, like what they did in Venice!
We are glad, however, that our local administration is making effort to attend to the flooded areas whenever it rains. What we cannot understand is why our public works bureau has to wait until the rains come before they make the repairs.
The rains forced many of us to stay at home. In our case, it led us to read the stories we have written in our book, My Brother-in-Law & Other Stories.
We wrote the story of one colorful politician that we caught up in the 1960s who compared the rich and the poor, thus:
“When a rich man gets sick in the head, it is just nervous breakdown, but when poor, he is a lunatic.
“When a rich man is afflicted by pulmonary disease, he has weak lungs; if he is poor, it is T.B.
“When a girl comes from the rich and bears a child out of wedlock, nadisgracia lang — meaning it was just an accident. But when the girl is poor, she is a sex maniac!
“When a rich man has skin disease, it is called allergy; if he is poor, it is leprosy.
“When the rich is caught stealing, it is just a lapse of judgment; if poor, he is a thief and criminal!”
***
GEM OF THOUGHT
“Do not worry if others do not understand you. Instead, worry if you do not understand others.” – Confucius.
***
For comments or re-actions, please e-mail to jnoveracompany@yahoo.com/PN
