storia 2

It's interesting how the Italian word for history, storia, may also be used to denote a fictional narrative or a story. In Italy, and especially in Rome which pins its tale's beginning to around 753 B.C., I had the sense that history fulfilled the same role as bedtime stories: for enjoyment, suspending disbelief, reinforcing lessons, and constituting identity. For me, the most moving symbol of how Rome has meshed history with its contemporary self is the section of its Servian Wall displayed in the main train station: history isn't confined to the four walls of a museum, it's at the heart of the sweetness of life.

Visiting Rome, I thought I finally understood what it meant to have a sense of time: it's the sense of evanescence of the moment, one's relative smallness in the river of the ages, while at the same time feeling that one's smallest action has the possibility of leaving a mark in the world, a few words or a footnote in history. In the Philippines, we most vividly imagine ourselves part of something greater through mass action, the apotheosis of which has been People Power; in Rome, I discovered that one can experience the same rush, the same high of losing oneself, by simply reading a book in the park or sipping coffee in a piazza. My advice to Sen. Trillanes: experience la dolce vita in Rome and smile a little more!

The Romans were the great engineers of ancient times, just like Filipinos are in our time. Responsible for building many prominent buildings in one of my favorite cityscapes Hong Kong, for example, were engineers Gilbert Legaspi, Wilbert Jarata, Butch Botin, and Joel Macaraig. Imagine what that collective knowledge can do to transform our little patch of earth when the time is ripe. The past is exciting- and so is the future!