We were four friends in the pub

As a young man I often found myself in the pub with friends talking about politics, music, girls, mental journeys and freedom... We were very heated and convinced in our arguments, really good at spewing bullshit that sounded intelligent. Truly those words were a fire that burned and our recipes to change the world seemed really powerful to our ears. From behind that beer, the politicians all appeared to us to be thieves and incompetent: «Mickey Mouse would be better at governing this country!». We filled our mouths with Andreotti De Mita and Spadolini, to whom all our contempt went. There was something for everyone, even for John Paul II. Power, the Church were the enemy, even for us who went to school with priests. Looking back on it now it was wonderful, because at that age you really had the feeling of being able to change things, and from that wooden table the hamburgers had the smell of freedom. Now that some years have passed, I see the "stupidity" of those years as a fundamental step in my life. My grandfather always said: "Dear boy, you have to drink more beers before you understand that perhaps it was better to drink more water".

These things came back to me at the bar, hearing a group of elderly people talking. «Topo Gigio would govern this country better» says one of them, and I really saw myself again in a flashback. It looked like us, 50 years later. Except that that fire had turned into resignation, and truly those speeches no longer seemed to change the world, but seemed to inexorably plunge it into the abyss. Wow grandpa! I remind you of the time you asked yourself, "How do you get to the end of your life without remorse?" And you said to me: «Remember that one day you will die, but not all the other days!».


Andrea Go
NP April 2023