Engaged examples of citizenship
positivity makes the world go around
Throughout my time here in Venice and through all of my travels I have had the opportunity to meet many different people of all walks of life. Although there were a few bumps along the road, there have certainly been many more positive experiences. A large part of this is due to the people that I have had the pleasure of meeting along my travels. Some of these people have taught me some valuable lessons through my experiences of them or through my observation of them.
The first positive act of citizenship I can remember was at a place that many of us at Casa Artom know very well, the Corner Pub. Alessandro, the owner of the bar, always has a pleasant disposition and is always eager to help anyone with whatever they need. He is so kind to anyone and everyone no matter who they are. He trusts everyone whether they are a close friend or a mere acquaintance. One night I went to dinner at the Corner Pub with several other Wake students rather late. Once we had finished we realized that not only had Alessandro stayed late and kept the bar open to accommodate us but that they had already put everything away. This included the credit card machine. Being an American who had not yet adjusted to the Italian preference for hard cash, was planning on paying with my card. I also had no euros to spare. Alessandro was very kind and rather than pull out the machine which supposedly take some time, said that I could just come by to pay the next day instead. This man had no idea who I was and yet he trusted me to come back the next day to pay the money that I owed him. Of course I did so the very next day but I am still to this day astonished by his kindness he showed by keeping the bar open and his trust that he had in me to be a good human being.
Trust and kindness are two values that I hold very highly. However, I often find in the United States that many people may want to trust others and believe that they are kind individuals, yet they do not always believe this to be true. I am certainly one of these individuals. I would like to challenge myself to think more optimistically about others by trusting people more and acting with kindness no matter how they then act towards me. Perhaps by my trying to be like this, I can encourage others to do the same thing. In a small community like Wake, this would be much easier to accomplish and it would be extremely beneficial as a whole.
The second act of citizenship that I have observed or experience is kindness again but more kindness through helpfulness. I have experienced this in several different locations. Firstly when I was in Mykonos, the owner of the pension house that I was staying at knew that our ferry was early in the morning. She knew it would be difficult for us to walk to it and didn’t want us to have to pay exaggerated prices for a taxi so she helped us by waking up early and driving us to the ferry stop. She didn’t have to do this, it was not included with the room that we had purchased for those three nights; however, she decided to help us out of the kindness of her heart.
The second situation that someone was extremely helpful was when I was in Amsterdam. I was running late for my flight back to Venice and one flight attendant recognized that I was struggling. She called over an airport golf car and had them take me to my gate as quickly as possible. She also called my gate and told them that I was on my way. She didn’t have to stop to do any of that. And who knows if I would have actually made the flight if she didn’t help. Either way I am extremely thankful for her help and kindness that she showed me.
The last act of kindness and helpfulness that I will mention was shown to me by none other than our own Roberta. Earlier this semester I cracked my vertebrae cliff jumping and was required to purchase a back brace. However, I had no idea where I could find such an item. I went to Roberta to merely ask if she knew where I could find one. Instead of just telling me, Roberta closed whatever work she was doing, put on her coat and said “Let’s go”. She walked me all the across to the other side of Venice, where the store was located, and then walked me back to the house, or at least enough until I knew my way back. Again this was not something that she had to do, but I was and am so appreciative for it.
People tend to forget that helping people and showing kindness can be so small but can mean so much. When they think of helping people, they think on the large scale, when in reality, just small acts like leaving work slightly early to take someone to get a back brace, or calling a car for someone to make their flight can make such a big difference. Although I don’t ever expect anyone to always go entirely out of their way to help people, I think that it’s an important part of citizenship which many forget about. Part of being a good citizen is helping our fellow citizens. Therefore I would like to take the time to help people more. If someone has a lot of books and I’m walking the same direction, I’ll offer to help carry them for example. And these simple acts don’t just benefit others but often times these acts of kindness and helpfulness make us feel better about ourselves too. It overall encourages a positive environment of helping one another and compassion.
Europe and the United States are very different from one another which many people forget because they are both considered ‘Western’ in their ideologies, religious stand points, and governmental bodies. Many of the differences that I observed had to do with people specifically: the citizens. I noticed that the people in Europe that I met are kind, helpful and trusting of others. These are values that I plan on incorporating into my role as a United States citizen and as a British citizen and I would encourage others to do the same. It will only prove to benefit society.
The first positive act of citizenship I can remember was at a place that many of us at Casa Artom know very well, the Corner Pub. Alessandro, the owner of the bar, always has a pleasant disposition and is always eager to help anyone with whatever they need. He is so kind to anyone and everyone no matter who they are. He trusts everyone whether they are a close friend or a mere acquaintance. One night I went to dinner at the Corner Pub with several other Wake students rather late. Once we had finished we realized that not only had Alessandro stayed late and kept the bar open to accommodate us but that they had already put everything away. This included the credit card machine. Being an American who had not yet adjusted to the Italian preference for hard cash, was planning on paying with my card. I also had no euros to spare. Alessandro was very kind and rather than pull out the machine which supposedly take some time, said that I could just come by to pay the next day instead. This man had no idea who I was and yet he trusted me to come back the next day to pay the money that I owed him. Of course I did so the very next day but I am still to this day astonished by his kindness he showed by keeping the bar open and his trust that he had in me to be a good human being.
Trust and kindness are two values that I hold very highly. However, I often find in the United States that many people may want to trust others and believe that they are kind individuals, yet they do not always believe this to be true. I am certainly one of these individuals. I would like to challenge myself to think more optimistically about others by trusting people more and acting with kindness no matter how they then act towards me. Perhaps by my trying to be like this, I can encourage others to do the same thing. In a small community like Wake, this would be much easier to accomplish and it would be extremely beneficial as a whole.
The second act of citizenship that I have observed or experience is kindness again but more kindness through helpfulness. I have experienced this in several different locations. Firstly when I was in Mykonos, the owner of the pension house that I was staying at knew that our ferry was early in the morning. She knew it would be difficult for us to walk to it and didn’t want us to have to pay exaggerated prices for a taxi so she helped us by waking up early and driving us to the ferry stop. She didn’t have to do this, it was not included with the room that we had purchased for those three nights; however, she decided to help us out of the kindness of her heart.
The second situation that someone was extremely helpful was when I was in Amsterdam. I was running late for my flight back to Venice and one flight attendant recognized that I was struggling. She called over an airport golf car and had them take me to my gate as quickly as possible. She also called my gate and told them that I was on my way. She didn’t have to stop to do any of that. And who knows if I would have actually made the flight if she didn’t help. Either way I am extremely thankful for her help and kindness that she showed me.
The last act of kindness and helpfulness that I will mention was shown to me by none other than our own Roberta. Earlier this semester I cracked my vertebrae cliff jumping and was required to purchase a back brace. However, I had no idea where I could find such an item. I went to Roberta to merely ask if she knew where I could find one. Instead of just telling me, Roberta closed whatever work she was doing, put on her coat and said “Let’s go”. She walked me all the across to the other side of Venice, where the store was located, and then walked me back to the house, or at least enough until I knew my way back. Again this was not something that she had to do, but I was and am so appreciative for it.
People tend to forget that helping people and showing kindness can be so small but can mean so much. When they think of helping people, they think on the large scale, when in reality, just small acts like leaving work slightly early to take someone to get a back brace, or calling a car for someone to make their flight can make such a big difference. Although I don’t ever expect anyone to always go entirely out of their way to help people, I think that it’s an important part of citizenship which many forget about. Part of being a good citizen is helping our fellow citizens. Therefore I would like to take the time to help people more. If someone has a lot of books and I’m walking the same direction, I’ll offer to help carry them for example. And these simple acts don’t just benefit others but often times these acts of kindness and helpfulness make us feel better about ourselves too. It overall encourages a positive environment of helping one another and compassion.
Europe and the United States are very different from one another which many people forget because they are both considered ‘Western’ in their ideologies, religious stand points, and governmental bodies. Many of the differences that I observed had to do with people specifically: the citizens. I noticed that the people in Europe that I met are kind, helpful and trusting of others. These are values that I plan on incorporating into my role as a United States citizen and as a British citizen and I would encourage others to do the same. It will only prove to benefit society.