Totti Today #107: A Colorful Story

Some time ago. In the city of Rome.

On a cloudy and rainy Sunday morning, a child, clearly bored, looks out of the window. Or rather: Stares out of the window. To the birds, the trees, the houses, the wet concrete on the bricks, carefully trying to dissect every rain drop that comes out of the sky and plummets into the Tevere and streets of the Eternal City. But there's just too many of them. He gives up. His head is spinning, full of questions. He needs answers. But who can he turn to? Who will listen to him? Only one man can help him out. Or at least he hopes so. Because this was no ordinary question, with no ordinary answer.

"Dad,...", the boy mumbles. "Can I ask you something?"

The father, who was reading the Serie A sport pages of his favorite newspaper in the living room, put away the papers, turned his head and replied, 'Well, yes of course my son. Is there something wrong?" The child then ignored the rain, stepped away from the window and quietly slandered his way to the living room. To his so-called saviour, the person with the most experience and knowledge in his vicinity. With glazed eyes he looked at his father.

"What defines a person, dad? What makes him special?"

A mysterious silence took over, as if some strange entity surrounded the room, including these two leading roles standing on the altar of truth.

The father, obviously in shock and amazed by the maturity of his son, was at a loss for words. He needed a few seconds to come up with an answer. "How can I deal with his in the best possible way?", he thought. "I need to think this through and better come up with something good."

And then suddenly, as a lightning bolt that struck in his head, he knew the perfect answer for his son, his crown jewel. He answered with determination: 'Choices, my dear. The choices a man makes in his life, it says everything about that person."

"You see, every day, every hour, even every minute you make choices in life. Those define you, mould you into the person you eventually turn out to be. Some people make bad choices and it goes wrong afterwards, they turn into criminals. Others make good choices in life and turn into everyday heroes, like doctors, sport icons or firemen. They achieve a lot of succes and are adored by many."

The child was now intrigued, the father was on a roll.

"It's not that easy making those choices week in, week out. Year after year. You'll find out that dilemma's are around every corner of the street. Your mother and I just hope that you'll make the right decisions at the right time. Then you'll be a happy person. By doing so, you'll turn the world into a happier place as well".

There was a twinkle in the eyes of the boy. He got the picture. The child now had the key to happiness, he just needed to unlock the door. Who knew that such a strange conversation could lead to a satisfying ending.

The rain settled down, a ray of sunshine even entered the room.

"Okay, time for something different", the dad said. "Let's go and play some calcio outside, shall we?". Not even ten seconds after he said those words, the boy returned with a ball and a pair of boots, hungry for the smell of grass and goals. He wore his favorite shirt. A red one.

As the boy strolled to the garden while whistling, his father smiled. His inner voice whispered to him. "Keep on making the right choices, my dear Francesco."