A View from the Heitz

I had lunch with a good friend a week or so ago who was telling me that today the buzz is about experience and memory.  The baby boomers used to be into things and materialism but now that they have all this stuff there is still something missing.  So now the focus is on experience and memory.  I was contemplating memory and experience during my visit to Ancient Rome and was surprised to find that nothing has really changed in thousands of years–see my post on Building for Eternity.

What I did find interesting was that our guide, who was really fantastic, brought this idea of memory and experience together in helping us to understand both ourselves and Ancient Rome.  Physically standing in the Colosseum is very different from text book education.  It crystallized for me in a real way and the memory of Rome for me is now a powerful experience.  I could see myself as part of Ancient Rome both in the past, present and future.  We walked and walked and walked in Rome.  Some days as much as 8 miles in the 95 degree, high humidity of July in Rome.  Starting as early as 8 AM, using public transport, sitting at a coffee bar just to rest for an hour or two.  Turn the corner and statues or buildings of massive scale present themselves.  Piazzas everywhere filled with people.  Even though our hotel room had air conditioning we had to purchase a fan in order to sleep.

All of this gave me a much deeper understanding for its culture, personality, and values.  Sometimes the little things you experience if you really get local when you travel makes all the difference.  Confidence, flamboyance, posture, and attitude all translate best in person.  They did so much in Ancient times without the creature comforts we take for granted.  And they did things with passion, intention, and detail.  I don’t think I would have been able to put Rome together from the comfort of an air conditioned bus tour with a few short stops and a five star hotel.  And I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone who truly wants to get to know Rome.

As for memory and experience, all of these blog posts are my modern way of capturing it in memorial.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 8th, 2008 at 6:49 am and is filed under Arts & Culture, Travel.