Indifference Under the Sun (Torregaveta, west of Naples, southern Italy)

I read today of the two girls in Italy on the beach who drowned, and the bystanders, or beach folk, whatever you call them, were quite indifferent on the matter, simply looked at the dead bodies, and went back to their sunbathing, sipping soft drinks, and so forth and on. The question I ask myself is this, “Why I am not surprised?”
About 18-months ago, I did an article on indifference in Buenos Aires, Argentina, basically what I said was this in a nutshell: my wife and I were walking down a street, three young men came and jumped on us, one large person grubbing me, around my arms and shoulders, and the other men grabbing my wife, to rob her peruse. I freed myself from the large man, broke his nose and perhaps ankle, with my heel, when I kicked it. Then went to my wife to protect her, and one of the two let go to fight me, and I started to subdue him, and the large guy came back, this time didn’t grab me, but rather pushed me, so his friend could run back and help the other fellow with my wife to get the purse, while I was off balance, I again, subdued the big guy, and tired to get to my wife, now two of these guys attacked trying to get her purse, and they saw me, and two of them attacked me again, pushed me to the ground, in the process one remained by me, the other two of those grabbed my wife’s purse and ran, with the third following, and I ran after the third, but my wife called, and I stopped. I was 59-years old, so I was getting winded, and she was worried I suppose.

Well enough of the fighting, I now was with my wife, we looked up the street, a woman was watching, 80-feet away. We walked up to her, I said, “Nice show, ha?” And she said, “We rode by and saw it all.” I asked, “Who is we?” And her response was, “My husband and I.” She was perhaps in her late 30s. Then I asked, “Where is your husband?” Well, she looked at me, then with a smile said, “Oh, he’s in the car, parked over there, didn’t want to see it.” She pointed a few feet away from where she was, to her car.

She then said to my wife, “I saw it all, everything,” and after a few minutes, the police came, and she repeated that to the police. And I got thinking, here she and her husband was, in the safety of their car, watching me and my wife battle it out, and all she could do is watch from 80-feet away, and her husband hide in his car around the corner. Why not stop the car in front of the bully’s and watch, get a better show, why 80-feet away, they really like being safe. Or why didn’t they simply go, since they were not going to do a thing anyhow.

Oh well, enough of that, most people I meet come under the coward area anyway, especially men nowadays, who when they feel safe, they got a big mouth, but little back up. So I get an email from someone in –you guessed it, Buenos Aires, he wasn’t sad by that attack, or even concerned how my wife was, he said in essence: how come you attack Buenos Aires (which has an obvious answer to), we are not as bad here as you say, and he went on and on how nice and safe it is there, and how great the people are. Not one bit sad for what happened to us, what a loser I thought, he perhaps needs a little experience in this area, he most likely would have cried like a baby, and not fought, most people don’t they only like a good show and world that doesn’t disrupt theirs: he will most likely get his due.

I did go to the police, and they said, “No sense in making a formal complaint, it happens all the time here.” If I would have shot the robbers, they, the police would have put me in jail for taking thier business away. They, the folkis in Bueonos Aires, and I all know they are in on it. I called up the American Embassy, and asked about getting a new Pass Port, and in the process he said, “Don’t take it so hard, even us guys here have all got robbed by someone, sometime here in Buenos Aires.” And to add to this, our guide had told us how nice and safe the city was, don’t worry wherever you walk in town here, its safe. It is the most unsafe city I have ever been in, and indifferent to its guests. And the indifference is like that beach in Torregaveta, west of Naples, southern Italy, where those poor girls, in their teens, died, and everyone just looked on, under the sun.