So I’m re-reading Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert because I liked it so much the first time around. I’m not that best at giving reviews on things, but I suggest you take a look at the reviews posted about this book to see if it’s something you would want to read. I linked to Amazon since they have the most reviews.
So there are so many parts of the book that I think about and reflect on, but I keep coming back to this neat thing about people and places having “words.” When Elizabeth spends 4 months living in Italy, Rome to be exact, she meets a friend named Giulio.
At lunch one day Elizabeth is discussing how much she loves Rome but somehow knows it’s not her city, not where she’ll end up spending her life. Giulio says, “Maybe you and Rome just have different words.” She didn’t understand what he meant so he further explained. “Don’t you know that the secret to understanding a city and its people is to learn – what is the word of the street.” He basically explains that there is a driving thought that the majority of people living in the city have in common. Whatever the majority thought might be – that is the word of the city. He tells her that if her personal word does not match the word of the city, then you don’t really belong there.
So this is a bit drastic and in my opinion a very broad concept for everyone to match their cities word, not to mention your city only having one word. And if you don’t, then by golly, you better leave town. But it’s a really fun concept to think about and I have found myself relating to it.
Giulio says that Rome’s word is “sex” and Liz argues with him a bit but ends up stepping back and agreeing with him. She does say, “but what about the Vatican” and he says, that the Vatican is its own little world and not really a part of Rome. He said the Vatican’s word is “Power”, she says not “Faith” and he says no “Power.” I agree.
So I continue to think about the words of cities and towns which come from a collective thought of the people living there. It’s funny, as many of you know I love the town I live in. I think it’s a great open community that’s a safe, warm, welcoming place to be. However, often I feel like I’m on the outside looking in. This is whether I’m enjoying the farmer’s market on Saturday or a concert in the park. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy these things and many others but I never really feel like I’m a part of it. There’s almost a level of invisibility that I feel as people swirl around me doing their own thing.
So I was thinking about what Moscow’s word is and I’ve come up with “Family.” That word is so strong throughout this town as well as “community” but family is much more definitive. Since I don’t have family here and don’t have one of my own yet, I think this is why I don’t quite “fit” with Moscow entirely. Family is not my word.
The great part of this whole thing is that it’s kind of always bothered me to not understand why I feel like I’m always looking through a window. Whether or not this word thing holds any weight, it’s helped me understand my community and my identification with it.
So you might be wondering what my word is…. I don’t know yet, I’m still working on it. Oh, and people’s words can change over time. Your word today could be different than it was 5 years ago or 10 years down the road.
Here are some more words from the book:
NYC – Achieve
LA – Succeed
Stockholm, Sweden – Conform
Naples, Italy – Fight
When discussing this whole word concept with my friend Emily the other day, right after I said Moscow’s word is Family, she said, “I was just thinking that, really I was, seriously.” So Giulio might be on to something here :)
So what’s your word and that of your city/town? Post a comment and play along, come on, it’s fun!
Hi Keli–
I was just going through my old emails and saw your blogger link. I read Eat, Pray, Love. To say that I really enjoyed it would be an understatement. Anyway– I think that Orlando’s word might be “transition”? Hope you are doing well.
Caroline
alright, I read the blog and thought about it hard. I would have to say the Ocala’s word is intertwined, because someone, everybody knows or is related to somebody in this town. It is really crazy sometime when you talk with people. I woud say mine is Motion. My mind is always in motion thinking, determining my next move, my hands are always moving on the computer, the camera ,the sewing machine or I am in motion bringing the kids somewhere or helping them on something. Was neat to think about. Thanks for the thought Keli.
having lived in moscow for about five years, i TOTALLY agree with you. and the funny thing is, many of the people i knew there had rather non-traditional families – kids out of wedlock, single moms, etc. but still, family was the driving force, be it families going back many generations who were wary of me because i was from the east or young couples starting their families and nesting with home furnishings from the palouse mall – it is not an easy place to be single and independent, nor is it an easy place to maintain a vision of a more freewheeling kind of life. it was a beautiful place, and i made some great friends there, but like you i didn’t feel i completely belonged there because i wasn’t ready to settle down. if i ever AM ready to settle down though, i can’t think of a more perfect place to do it.
for now, i live in washington, dc. the first word for DC that came to mind when thinking about your blog entry was “tension” – be it racial tension, political tension, or the personal tension of smart, ambitious people striving to impress. hmm… also not conducive to a more freewheeling kind of life, come to think of it. ;-)
anyway, thanks for this thoughtful, honest post.