Parole, parole, parole

Massimo Mezzaroma, the MRoma volleyball club president, threw in the towel yesterday and did not renew team in the A-1 series for the 2008-09 championship.

"If you have a dream in this city (Rome), slowly slowly they make it die, taking the water away one drop at a time. In this last period no one in the city's institutions gave me a definitive answer. No one ever said "no, it is not possible to have the palazzetto". In these past months I heard only lots of words, a thousand promises, but nothing concrete. So, it is not serious on my part to continue like this, with no sport facility for our games, without the collaboration of the city's sponsors and institutions."

Following two successful seasons, the A-1 series volleyball team, MRoma is no more.

"this is a city that lives on words, not facts."

Or as the famous song by Mina in the 1960s says, "parole, parole, parole"
Or, perhaps better, "politics, politics, politics" (Roman style)

Or the question has something to do with communication style -- the obvious answer, "no", was never stated, just intended by a series of non-answers and non-actions, while the pond dried up drop by drop. The words said "yes" through a thousand promises while the "context" in which they were repeated, shouted, "no".

I have an embarassing story to recount from many years ago when I kept calling an office where I had applied for a job, only to hear the secretary kindly and enthusiastically tell me to call back because: a) he was out of the office at the monment, b) was on the phone, c) was busy etc... and I dutifully kept calling at exactly the time she had suggested. Finally the poor woman, in extremis, had to outright explain to me that HE DID NOT WANT TO TALK TO ME. How could I not have understood this (in retrospect obvious) situation. She had TOLD me (and with such emphasis) to call back, so I had.

Lessons learned. Now I listen between the lines and concentrate on the context.

a domani,
E