The Language of Humanity

Would life be easier if we all spoke the same language? As I sat in Italy, surrounded by my family, cousins who were more like third cousins twice removed, my Nonna, my sister, and my parents, I suddenly thought: wouldn't life be easier if I could actually understand what they were saying to me? My Nonna (grandmother in Italian) uses a few words every now and again to show her endearment towards my sister and I or to command us to do something. Those few words, such as bella and angela, did not prepare me for the massive amounts of confusion that occurred when we visited my Italian family in the beautiful small seaside town my Nonna's family came from. Only one of my "cousins," could speak English and he was given the job of translating for everyone. But, if you've ever met real Italians you know there is no way for one person to speak at a time! Chaos is the Italian way and chaos ensued as old women kissed and pinched my cheeks, cousins embraced me like an old friend, and my "uncles" spoke rapidly. I stood there, my eyebrows raised, unsure of what I was supposed to do. Afterwards, as the family all sat down after dinner with their wine, they took out their musical instruments and began singing. They sang words that I didn't understand. But I did understand the emotion behind their words. Their voices blended together in pain, in passion, in adventure, and in love. I knew what they were singing merely on how they were singing it. That is when I realized, we do not have to understand words in order to understand feeling. We are all human, we all experience the same emotions throughout our lives. Language is not what should bring us together, it should be our feelings. Waving goodbye to all of those people that were strangers to me when I walked into the house, I felt I was leaving a piece of me behind. They had become my family, whether or not I could understand what they said through their tears. I understood their tears. To me, that was all that mattered.

And for those who don't know who Hugh Dancy is:

Now isn't he a hunk?