Il Vescovado Costiera Amalfitana

Riceviamo e pubblichiamo lettera di una nostra lettrice Ayako Ishiyama, giapponese d'origine ma che vive stabilmente a Ravello da tre anni dopo averla conosciuta 25 anni fa.

Questa testimonianza, scritta in lingua inglese, che condividiamo con i nostri lettori, porta a conoscenza sparuti episodi di chiusura all'integrazione, propri dei piccoli centri.

"Paradigm Shift Take it or Leave it"

In this time of 2020, we all have no choice but to accept some changes in our life.

It was more than a quarter of a century ago when I first visited this beautiful town of Ravello. Since then, I have of course witnessed great changes. However, it was just this past month that I realized the stagnancy of an outdated paradigm.

Allow me to emphasize that I am neither speaking out of anger nor am I asking for any apologies. I am speaking up because I believe each of us has a right to seek our truth and freedom.

September 17th, I found myself the recipient of racist remarks. The people around the young man who voiced these racist remarks have known me for over 25 years. Despite this, they decided to dismiss and disregard it, essentially acting as if nothing had happened. When an opportunity arose a month or so later to speak about it, they claimed to have no recollection of this happening.

You see, this article is a few seconds of my voice after 10 years of deep injustice. The racial attack was ‘the cheery on top', if you will, after years of being lied to and having unimaginable false accusations against my family. These dishonest acts of my neighbor have yet to surface due to my silence. Now, my silence has left me standing in a plethora of false information and gossip.

It's time for me to speak my truth.

How do you spend your everyday? Do you find yourself in a repetitive cycle? How do you look at people? Do you find yourself judging someone out width your immediate family? How do you interact with others? Do you find yourself mindlessly following a belief system?

Here comes the necessity of mindfulness, the consciousness and awareness of your choices. Your choice of action, including verbal remarks. A choice in every waking moment of your life.

Would you be open to the concept of mindfulness? Would you be open to bringing a bit of consciousness into your every action?

To the young man who shouted at me: would you say you were aware of your choice of words? Are you proud of your choice?

Dignity is what I value for myself as well as for others, and this is the reason I have strived to maintain the anonymity of the persons involved. However, I had to speak up, hoping to be a catalyst to a more peaceful environment. Luckily, as you may correctly assume, these years of experience have prepared me for any sort ridicule or criticism.

It is simply upsetting that people are so deeply absorbed in a dominating ideology or their ego that they are unaccepting of other perspectives - in 2020, might I add.

I truly believe that the attitude of valuing the perspective of others will lead this beautiful and unique town to a more prosperous and joyous one. I had been sincerely enjoying and willing to appreciate the tranquility and beauty of Ravello. Maybe mindfulness is the piece of the puzzle we never knew was missing!

Thank you so much for reading to the end.

Lots of blessing

to you all

Ayako Ishiyama

Here I will leave you with some quotes.

"Dubium sapientiae initium"

Rene Descartes

"A lie gets halfway around the world before the truth has a chance to get its pants on"

Winston Churchill