In twelve days the one hundred and fourth anniversary of the death of Giuseppe Petrosino will be marked by those who know their New York history as well as by his descendants and descendants of his friends and many other men and women of good will and decency who remember the remembrances of these persons or perhaps by some of those who learn about his life from this blog entry.
He was born in Padula, Campagna province in the year 1860, a time of great tumult and revolutionary upheaval, very soon before the unification of Italy in 1861. To Be Continued
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
More Complaints
There are so many. The more seemingly trivial their causes the more these can rankle especially when they are legion, like the gremlins that seem to create or aid them in their errant errands of annoyance. The usual suspicion needs to be addressed first: is the chief problem the complainer rather than the the circumstances that so irritate? Well, let me elaborate with examples and let the reader decide.
Is it unreasonable to expect a person in a service position, say a waitress, a doctor's receptionist, a supermarket checkout cashier, etc. to address one as "Mister", "Ms.", "sir" or "madam" instead of by one's first name, "dearie", or "sweetie?" What about when one has a question for one of these persons and it is not clearly heard. Instead of "excuse me" or even the adequate "what?" uttered as a bridge to understanding, the slightly supercilious and inappropriate interrogative "who?" is employed to signal a seemingly less than sincere request for clarification. More than once I have made eye contact with such a person and firmly explained that the object of my concern was not a who but a what. Why would I be enquiring about an individual when the extent of our conversations are about products and services: all items firmly in the "what" category?
Is it unreasonable to expect an answer to a letter or an e-mail? What about the signaling by a fellow motorist within one's vicinity, especially those seemingly about to pass you in the opposite direction on a two way street while you have long since indicated with your turn signal that you intend to turn across their path when they have safely passed? Is it really unreasonable to ardently desire that they not turn without signaling in front of your patient self and onto the same street and in the same direction as you have planned and oh, so considerately have communicated to one and all within visual distance?
Another phenomenon, truly unnerving, (though unmistakable and occurring almost unfailingly) but so subtle that am reluctant to relate it for fear of being suspected of some degree of paranoia, is the "sniffing" that I hear from the nostrils of any adult male stranger of approximately my age and certainly younger who passes by me when walking in the opposite direction. Whether this experience is an auditory delusion or not, seeking and finding an explanation is, I feel, a worthy task. Always seeking a satisfying reason, the only thing I have come up with so far is that this event must be something arising from deep within the unconscious mind of a human male and that it's a primal response to issues of territoriality that the sense of smell is intimately involved with. Trying to discern who, what, and how powerful or weak a threat my presence represents is the task of the sniffer. Having intellectualized about this theory and the supposed potential hostility of this behavior, I now nearly always respond to a sniffer by sniffing longer and more loudly than him. There's a perverse satisfaction in doing this, but it's usually too late geographically since we have typically passed each other by before my mock counter-confrontation takes place.
But there are so many other far more blatant and verifiably obnoxious actions or inactions of persons in modern society, that perhaps I should be grateful that so few of them have been experienced or rarely so by me. It has been over twenty years since I was mugged on a subway train. A sock in the jaw on that occasion, resulting in no broken mandible, is also something to be thankful for. Driving a taxi in the '70s and '80s I was never robbed or harmed (just a very few ripoffs and unpleasant passengers). Still, it's human nature to become dissatisfied and to not dwell on the blessings of not having been murdered, shot or assaulted. Gentility, socially personable folks, and better and better heartwarming interchanges with others is never unwelcome or things we don't aspire to secretly or openly as the social animals that we are. The lyrics of Paul Simon in his and Art Garfunkel's song "The Boxer" may be instructive here. "Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest" may refer simply to the narrow views of many of us (am certainly not infrequently guilty of this) and a negative ambience is strongly hinted at. Contrastingly, these words may underscore the fact that one may benefit (albeit at the expense of sensitivity and developing compassion) from allowing only pleasant images and experiences to be the focus of one's attentions. The rich man is often, within the realm of a safely expressed generalization, most apt to fall into this category. Amusements, diversions and opportunities for them all abound in his world. For all of us though, the ancient admonition to turn our thoughts to our autonomy in reacting thoughtfully and constructively to all events, especially unpleasant, and particularly loathsome ones, is an excellent one to aspire to as a lifelong habit. And yet, injustices can chafe and awaiting heavenly rebukes can tax those of us with a low threshold of pain for offenses big and small. Venting one's spleen may be therapeutic, but a cleansing rather than the appearance of bile should be the goal.
Is it unreasonable to expect a person in a service position, say a waitress, a doctor's receptionist, a supermarket checkout cashier, etc. to address one as "Mister", "Ms.", "sir" or "madam" instead of by one's first name, "dearie", or "sweetie?" What about when one has a question for one of these persons and it is not clearly heard. Instead of "excuse me" or even the adequate "what?" uttered as a bridge to understanding, the slightly supercilious and inappropriate interrogative "who?" is employed to signal a seemingly less than sincere request for clarification. More than once I have made eye contact with such a person and firmly explained that the object of my concern was not a who but a what. Why would I be enquiring about an individual when the extent of our conversations are about products and services: all items firmly in the "what" category?
Is it unreasonable to expect an answer to a letter or an e-mail? What about the signaling by a fellow motorist within one's vicinity, especially those seemingly about to pass you in the opposite direction on a two way street while you have long since indicated with your turn signal that you intend to turn across their path when they have safely passed? Is it really unreasonable to ardently desire that they not turn without signaling in front of your patient self and onto the same street and in the same direction as you have planned and oh, so considerately have communicated to one and all within visual distance?
Another phenomenon, truly unnerving, (though unmistakable and occurring almost unfailingly) but so subtle that am reluctant to relate it for fear of being suspected of some degree of paranoia, is the "sniffing" that I hear from the nostrils of any adult male stranger of approximately my age and certainly younger who passes by me when walking in the opposite direction. Whether this experience is an auditory delusion or not, seeking and finding an explanation is, I feel, a worthy task. Always seeking a satisfying reason, the only thing I have come up with so far is that this event must be something arising from deep within the unconscious mind of a human male and that it's a primal response to issues of territoriality that the sense of smell is intimately involved with. Trying to discern who, what, and how powerful or weak a threat my presence represents is the task of the sniffer. Having intellectualized about this theory and the supposed potential hostility of this behavior, I now nearly always respond to a sniffer by sniffing longer and more loudly than him. There's a perverse satisfaction in doing this, but it's usually too late geographically since we have typically passed each other by before my mock counter-confrontation takes place.
But there are so many other far more blatant and verifiably obnoxious actions or inactions of persons in modern society, that perhaps I should be grateful that so few of them have been experienced or rarely so by me. It has been over twenty years since I was mugged on a subway train. A sock in the jaw on that occasion, resulting in no broken mandible, is also something to be thankful for. Driving a taxi in the '70s and '80s I was never robbed or harmed (just a very few ripoffs and unpleasant passengers). Still, it's human nature to become dissatisfied and to not dwell on the blessings of not having been murdered, shot or assaulted. Gentility, socially personable folks, and better and better heartwarming interchanges with others is never unwelcome or things we don't aspire to secretly or openly as the social animals that we are. The lyrics of Paul Simon in his and Art Garfunkel's song "The Boxer" may be instructive here. "Still, a man hears what he wants to hear and disregards the rest" may refer simply to the narrow views of many of us (am certainly not infrequently guilty of this) and a negative ambience is strongly hinted at. Contrastingly, these words may underscore the fact that one may benefit (albeit at the expense of sensitivity and developing compassion) from allowing only pleasant images and experiences to be the focus of one's attentions. The rich man is often, within the realm of a safely expressed generalization, most apt to fall into this category. Amusements, diversions and opportunities for them all abound in his world. For all of us though, the ancient admonition to turn our thoughts to our autonomy in reacting thoughtfully and constructively to all events, especially unpleasant, and particularly loathsome ones, is an excellent one to aspire to as a lifelong habit. And yet, injustices can chafe and awaiting heavenly rebukes can tax those of us with a low threshold of pain for offenses big and small. Venting one's spleen may be therapeutic, but a cleansing rather than the appearance of bile should be the goal.
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