Italians want a barrelful of laughs.

I don't particularly like the way the world operates. Politically. Socially. Economically. I'd change lots of things. If I had my way. But far more often than not, I don't have my way. I have to accept the world as it is. Or find ways to live the way I want to live. Usually, that means retreating to my cocoon. My own little niche. And I focus on a handful of friends and acquaintances. In a sense, I create my own little world. An environs that's really quite tolerable. Comfortable. Enough to make me happy most of the time. Yes, i've found ways to beat the systems. Not always. But sometimes. I get great satisfaction from beating the system. The bureaucracy. Some people are better at it than others. For instance, I think the Italians are particularly good at it. Americans aren't quite as good at it. Maybe it's in the temperament. Seems to me the Italians don't take life quite as seriously as we Americans. They're really more easy-going. They don't anger as quickly. And I think that's because they have found ways to beat the system. To best the bureaucracy. They have more endurance. More patience. More keen sense of awareness about how to do it. They see humor in life. They are, for the most part, actually very proud of their prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi. Not because he's a stateman. He isn't. But rather because he's a buffoon. He's entertaining. And that's what Italians want in their leader. A barrelful of laughs. --Jim Broede