In Search of the Magnificence and Banality of Humankind

In Alighieri Dante’s Divine Comedy we find the intrepid adventurer Ulysses (Inferno XXVI, 90-142) burning in hell while being questioned by Virgil on how he met his death. Ulysses replies that after escaping the clutches of Circe who held him captive in Gaeta, neither the love of his son nor his love for Penelope nor the reverence for his father Laertes could stop him from exploring the world and "to gain experience of the world and of the vices and the worth of men".  Ulysses eventually arrives at his destination an old man. Searching for an answer to what is our humanity, Ulysses risked everything including his life.

Unlike Ulysses I start this journey as an old man (I will reach my 59th in a few days) but I share his quest. To explore the magnificence  and banality of humans. What better way to start from at the beginning, with my family in Malta.

I left Malta when I was thirteen. We moved to England as  a family. My father as part of his duties with the Royal Air Force was "posted" to Hullavington in the heart of the West Country. Five kids ranging in age from 7 to 14 years shepherded by a mother who never flew before. As a motley caravan of immigrants we moved everything of importance in numerous small luggage. We also brought our own food, mainly Maltese bread. The immigration officer was perplexed by the amount of food we each were consciously smugly smuggling in and sneered at my mum as though to insinuate that they also have food in England, only to receive the wrath of my mum's maternal instinct.  He was informed by my mother that Princess Anne, only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II, was marrying Mark Phillips and the grocery shops might be closed in response to the great celebration that such an occasion demands.   Which is how I remember the date...I can google this royal event since our exodus was not otherwise recorded in the annals of history. We each had two bags that we lugged from the airplane onto the minivan that our dad commandeered to drive us to our military camp house stocked full of freshly bought food from the 24/7 supermarket.

Ever since my family moved back to Malta, and I stayed behind in England and  I have been returning every few years to visit. First visiting friends, then visiting home, then visiting family, now visiting parents. For 46 years I have witnessed evolutions not just of geography but also of biology. Increasingly the world of my parents drifts away from the world of the present. This is a good way to start my quest to explore the magnificence  and banality of humans.

© USA Copyrighted 2018 Mario D. Garrett