Life lessons: Angelo.
Journalist Bibi Timmerman started writing down life lessons of the people she met while taking her campervan on the road in Europe for 2 months. Realising that actual wisdom can be found in the everyday person you meet on the street, she asked people: what is your biggest life lesson? This time: Angelo!
After waking up from my first night of wild camping in nature, in a very remote spot where no one can be found for hours, I start the day by staring and looking over the beautiful azure blue waters of Lago Di Maggiore. After a while, a small yellow car arrives, a surfboard attached on the roof. An older, vibrant looking Italian fisherman gets out: Angelo. We get to talking and he invites me to join a spontaneously organized dinner later that evening in his self-built 'farm hotel' on top of the mountain. Dinner was spectacular, we sang karaoke and laughed until our stomachs hurt. Above all, his hospitality knew no bounds. I camped in his driveway for three days. During our umpteenth coffee together, it was time to ask him my only question: “Angelo, what is your greatest life lesson?”
He doesn't have to think for a second and answers immediately: “Without a doubt the fact that I had a car accident through my own fault. I was drunk and I'm not going to forget this for the rest of my life. Now I often wonder how could I be so stupid, to deal with my life and especially other people's lives in such a way? Fortunately nothing bad happened, but I will never forget this. It taught me that it is important to be able to control yourself. Yes, that is really very important. You must be able to find your own boundaries and limit. Make a good compromise with yourself and with life. Respect your own life and that of the people around you.’’
‘’After the accident, of course, I immediately stopped drinking, and I was very shocked by my own behavior. I feel much more comfortable without the drinking now, but this experience never goes away. So I still have to be careful, every day and every little moment I have to remind myself.’’
‘’If this accident hadn't happened, I'd still be drinking so much. I don't believe that we are the masters of our lives and that we can decide everything for ourselves. We are just a small dusty piece in the wind' and maybe that's what they call 'destiny'. Perhaps it was my destiny to experience the accident. Have I changed for myself or have I changed because life has shown me something? I don't believe that people can decide everything about their lives, that I have the power to determine my life. Look at the universe and understand how big it is and then realize how small we are.
‘’So just try to live in the best and nicest way possible. For example, don't drink too much because it's going to give you problems anyway, that's just the law of nature; a universal law. Respect these natural laws, your own life and that of others, because otherwise you will lose it anyway.’’
