Who Rome Belongs To

An unexpected observation I made on my first days in Rome was how many people littered. Cigarette butts, wrappers and old receipts make up the grooves of the cobblestone underfoot. I recently joined with one of the many local organizations, Retake Roma, to help reclaim public spaces that have been overcome with trash. 

I feel responsible for my environment because of how the local Hawaiian and Japanese cultures I was raised with emphasize taking care of nature. Looking back now at my school’s Earth Day fairs every year, all my service hours spent at the beaches and parks and the detours I was trained to take to pick up litter, I can see how they all played a pivotal role in respecting the place I live in.

So when I see the graffiti etched into the trees or trash shoved into the pockets of ancient walls, I get upset that others don’t share my philosophy on environmental health. But what others do is out of my control, and what I do control is where I throw away my trash. I made it my mission to consistently recycle, and to give back to my community abroad. Considering Rome is a frequently visited tourist destination like Hawaiʻi, I understand first-hand that despite official and communal efforts, it’s a Sisyphus-rolling-the-boulder-up-a-hill situation to keep a city clean. Although I had pre-conceived notions on what the city may look like, Rome makes up for it tenfold, with the impacts of tourism and all. 

A fundamental issue with tourists I’ve experienced in Hawaiʻi is that they will make sure the place aligns with their ideal. Even if that means supporting non-local businesses, disrespecting the customs and traditions of the locals, and always distancing the imagined place from the real, evolving, breathing place. 

For example, international companies swoop on properties without acknowledging the neighboring communities’ basic rights of water, their spiritual grounds. Our wildlife is very unique because we’re an island, which also means we have different expectations for how our animals  are treated. In a lot of different parts of the world, petting or feeding animals might be acceptable, while here, it typically isn’t. Hawaiʻi was not made to be a tourist hot-spot destination, and it shows.

Rather than contributing to the tourist mentality of Rome, I feel acknowledging the differences between the new philosophies I’m exposed to in Rome and what I’m familiar with can help ensure I’m respecting it for what it really is. In Western philosophy, from ancient times to the Renaissance, it emphasizes their own long-lasting legacy by contrasting it against nature’s impermanence. When I walk through the streets, it’s as if I can hear Rome say, “Look at our statues in the Forum that have stood for thousands of years; how we diverted the Tiber River to meet us where we are.” 

In contrast, philosophies in Hawaiʻi are more about impermanence itself. Letting man-made structures return to nature, shaping their life around the curves of a canoe tree, the riches it gives them, honoring the land they live from. I can hear the ocean, the breeze, the heartbeat of the island there. The different ways and sites of worship also shape the cityscape differently, encouraging – in the case of Catholic churches in Rome – or discouraging – with temples and shrines in Hawaiʻi – an urban, rather than earthen, landscape. 

These cultural nuances make these beautiful cities I love so much what they are today. So although at times I don’t fully understand Rome, I can still appreciate how the city claims its identity in a much different way than what I’m familiar with. My eyes literally turn into hearts whenever I pass the detailed Baroque architecture, the relaxed diners on the sidewalks, the delicious fresh produce in grocery stores. I didn’t even know my eyes could do that…

Now I know I can turn my initial apprehension into a question of how to involve myself further in Rome’s complexity as a long-established city and its relationship to tourism and the land, the same I do with my home in Hawaiʻi. I encourage you too, traveling in Rome or anywhere abroad, to ask, who does that place belong to? And how do you give, or take from that place with every decision you make?

If you’d like to experience living in Rome like I have, visit the Temple Rome program page on the Study Abroad Website. There are many opportunities to help out the environment just like I did during your time abroad!