I wanted to translate this blog post into English, cause I believe it renders an almost perfect picture of Italy as it is today. This is a free translation and all the rights for the original blog post belong to the original author.
When I was a child, I was told:
“Study, or you’ll go nowhere.”
So I’ve studied.
After completing my academic career, I’ve been told:
“Why did you spend so much time on a degree? Don’t you know that’s a useless piece of paper? You’d better to learn a trade.”
I’ve learned a trade. Then, I’ve been told:
“What a shame. You’ve studied so many years for that trade?”
I moved ahead, and I left my job. I became penniless.
One day I was too young and inexperienced. The day after I was too old, with too much experience and too many titles.
I finally found a job. Well, not a permanent one. A temporary one, with no paid leave, no insurance, no pension, no bonuses, no severance, no rights. And I had to fight hard to keep that not-a-job. I decided not to have children, because of some sense of responsibility, and I grew up. Then I’ve been told, by someone who got his job in the 60s, when it was easy to get a job, despite of your education level:
“You are a fool, a dupe who didn’t want to grow up and raise a family”.
In the meantime, I was paying his very own pension, saying a final goodbye to mine. Tired and grown up, I decided to have a baby. I’ve been told that:
“Only an irresponsible person would have a child without a proper job and without a good economical background”.
Given that I could not kill my son, I decided to emigrate. I went somewhere else. I found a safe place, and a good job. I was feeling good. I was feeling home. But one day, when the Italian system went bankrupt, I’ve then been told:
“Why the hell did you flee? Why didn’t you help your Country?”.
At that point, There was only one very reply:
“Fuck off!”.