About those refunds…

An American woman was disappointed about having to cancel her family’s spring trip to Italy, especially upset about losing all the money they’d paid in advance and won’t be refunded. She was supposed to visit a friend here in Italy whose family is having to stay at home, facing the lock down of the whole country, a country where so many work in tourism, where so many will go without work or income in the coming months. Her Italian friend told her she was sorry that there had been no refunds, that she’d lost the money, as that isn’t pleasant for anyone. But she said “just realize that that money might be putting food on someone’s table this spring because so many people in the tourist industry - and beyond - are now out of work.” All of a sudden the American woman wasn’t so upset about the lack of refunds. She felt she was doing something to help with this emergency.

Italy is doing its utmost to be responsible in the face of a global health crisis, pulling out all the stops to be the place of containment so that this nightmare can end sooner than later - for everyone, everywhere. There will be a very difficult economic aspect to answer to as a result. Maybe those who won’t get refunds from cancelled trips can just think of that money as going to help the cause, to help us do the work that we’re doing here by putting our lives and livelihoods aside to do what’s right in the face of a global health situation where uncertainty still reigns.

Hopefully our efforts will make a difference - and more people will be more gracious about understanding that.