the sabbatical logs

​Interviewed my grandmother’s cousins, Giuseppa and Maria who will be 102 years old October 5th.  Maria unfortunately is primarily in bed stay and does not speak much and is cared for by a family member and her sister Giuseppa who is 88 years old  and spoke with great detail.
 
Maria. 101 years old.  Born Bagheria, Sicily.  Currently lives in Bagheria.
Giuseppa.  88 years old.  Born Bagheria, Sicily.  Currently lives in Bagheria.
 
only Giuseppa spoke and began immediately with her memory of  planes bombing Palermo.  She had a brother that fought in the War and remembered everyone being concerned for him being stationed in Palermo.  He was wounded and Maria, her sister, walked 13 kilometers to find him.  Giuseppa also spoke of the bombs going off in Bagheria and told her story and what she remembered about that day that my grandmother had spoken about many times.  As Giuseppa spoke her sister Maria broke out in song.  She sang a biblical song and I immediately got it on video—it was spontaneous and touching to see and hear.  As soon as she finished she looked tired and sank in her chair.  She was quiet yet appeared to be listening to every word her younger sister, Giuseppa said.  The last question I ask in every interview is what is the biggest difference in generations—in your generation compared to the generation of women today.  Giuseppa’s answer touched me.  She said that in her observation and experience with this current generation is that they lack nothing, yet want for nothing—meaning, they haven’t the desire nor want to work and therefore don’t understand the reward.  Today, she said, they ask and expect to get it without reward of their own, their own effort, their own sweat.  They want something for nothing because they get their information so quickly, without seeking or searching for it on their own—they can now click a couple buttons and their it is…don’t get me wrong, she said, there are benefits to this but what it strips is passion, desire and want and leaves youth with talk and no walk to back it up…I thought, wow, that’s a pretty wise and hip response for an eighty-eight year old woman.
The interview caused me to pause and reflect.  Firstly, I had never met an almost 102 year old person—as I looked at her, I thought how much she had experienced, how many world changes she had seen, it was, to put it colloquially, pretty cool.  Her impromptu singing was pretty amazing too.  It was however sad to see that her mind and her body were not fully functioning.  She was now living in bed rest for most of the day, sitting in a chair periodically and speaking very little if anything.
 
I contacted Settimanale Bagheria, the local newspaper in Bagheria and emailed Giuseppe Fumia the author of the story written about the Bombings of 1943.  The story was written with the help of a Mr. Rizzo, a retired police officer from Bagheria.  He had done most of the research and Fumia wrote the article.  Hence, Mr. Fumia told me he would pass my information to Mr. Rizzo.  I now wait for his contact.