Pippa, Grizzlies & Guns
I was referred from a link over at Breda's place to the saga of Pippa Bacca, an Italian peace activist and "artist." Bacca, whose real name was Giuseppina Pasqualino di Marineo, embarked on a mission for peace and world harmony. Her plan was to hitch hike from Italy to the Balkans and finally to the Middle East and Israel in a wedding dress. 
Her goal was a message of peace, trust, and "marriage between different peoples and nations."
A motorist in Turkey really liked her idea. He liked it so much, in fact, that he raped her, strangled her, and left her dead body to rot like so much garbage beside the roadway.
"She thought that in the world there were more positive than negative people, and that it was right to be trusting," said Rosalia Pasqualino, Pippa Bacca's sister, "Trust is a very human factor, and she believed that to understand people, you had to get to know them." Sadly, there are somepeople animals that a sane person does not want to know or understand. Pippa's friends and audience grieve for her, real grief for an idealistic life cut short by it's very idealism.
It is common that the young and naive think the old and cynical know nothing. I am reminded of an axiom among flyers though....There are are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. In our lives we take our choices. Our choices define us, and make us who we are, and unfortunately, sometimes who we were. The henious barbarism that brought an end to Pippa's misguided journey is by no means an abberation. It is common. Any person who has lived on the road can inform the neophyte traveler that caution and suspicion will keep the traveler alive and traveling. I, too, am saddened by the loss of Pippa Bacca, even tough I have never heard of her before now. No life should be snuffed out so cruely and so selfishly by the scum that prowls the Earth. The scum should be wiped out instead.
I cannot help but be reminded of Timothy Treadwell, the man who gained fame, and ultimately death by camping among grizzly bears. I can't help but wonder if at some point, Pippa Bacca might have a film such as this in her memory.
Rather than a movie memorializing your life, how much better is it to have a .44 magnum when you really need it? Or better yet, some respect for the dangers that can kill you, to be applied judiciously to your life so you will never have to bring the .44 magnum into play? The truth is though, while these two people were killed as a result of their absolute disregard for the dangers of their activities, malevolence can visit the most careful person. In that case, the gun becomes a life preserver.
Rest well, Pippa, I hope at least one of your friends learns from your death and buys a gun.
Her goal was a message of peace, trust, and "marriage between different peoples and nations."A motorist in Turkey really liked her idea. He liked it so much, in fact, that he raped her, strangled her, and left her dead body to rot like so much garbage beside the roadway.
"She thought that in the world there were more positive than negative people, and that it was right to be trusting," said Rosalia Pasqualino, Pippa Bacca's sister, "Trust is a very human factor, and she believed that to understand people, you had to get to know them." Sadly, there are some
It is common that the young and naive think the old and cynical know nothing. I am reminded of an axiom among flyers though....There are are old pilots, and there are bold pilots, but there are no old bold pilots. In our lives we take our choices. Our choices define us, and make us who we are, and unfortunately, sometimes who we were. The henious barbarism that brought an end to Pippa's misguided journey is by no means an abberation. It is common. Any person who has lived on the road can inform the neophyte traveler that caution and suspicion will keep the traveler alive and traveling. I, too, am saddened by the loss of Pippa Bacca, even tough I have never heard of her before now. No life should be snuffed out so cruely and so selfishly by the scum that prowls the Earth. The scum should be wiped out instead.
I cannot help but be reminded of Timothy Treadwell, the man who gained fame, and ultimately death by camping among grizzly bears. I can't help but wonder if at some point, Pippa Bacca might have a film such as this in her memory.
Rather than a movie memorializing your life, how much better is it to have a .44 magnum when you really need it? Or better yet, some respect for the dangers that can kill you, to be applied judiciously to your life so you will never have to bring the .44 magnum into play? The truth is though, while these two people were killed as a result of their absolute disregard for the dangers of their activities, malevolence can visit the most careful person. In that case, the gun becomes a life preserver.
Rest well, Pippa, I hope at least one of your friends learns from your death and buys a gun.
Labels: Art, Mortal Decisions
posted by Xavier at 2:43 PM
9 Comments:
I view Treadwell as being similar to any of the school shooters. Somebody out to prove that they are unique and all powerfull. Somebody out to make a name for themselves. Somebody that will do anything to be remembered or memorialized.
The "gentle warrior must turn into a samuari.."????? What is that all about?
Treadwell presents as somebody that is projecting his own thoughts onto an animal. Without realizing that animals ain't on yo wavelength boy.......
Steve
Such a sad commentary on our world as it stands today. I work with many survivors of such brutality, and sadly, many are so broken that they see no way to escape except through suicide.
As far as I am concerned, any scumbag that attempts to harm a human being deserves nothing more than a bullet between his runnin' lights.
Thanks for the info X, I will share the news with those in my office at the crisis center.
Tim lasted 13 years, she didn't last a month. Just who are the predators? Not the bears...
Treadwell forgot that wild animals are wild and regardless of how well you know them and they know you, they may react aggressively. He chose to enter the food chain and I'm sad that folks see some need to make him a martyr or something.
Pippa's story bothers me on a fundamental level. Idealism can be a wonderful thing. Deciding that one's personal flavor of ideal is the actual state of reality and everyone else is just confused on that point is dangerous for everyone. It's like she was the newest incarnation of the Children's Crusade.
I've hitch-hiked across and around the USA. Met some amazingly friendly and generous people, as well as some crazy but harmless ones. I once hitched through Shreveport. The Southern people were the nicest.
I gave it up after having two guns waved in my face in 24 hours by separate rides up north. They weren't threatening me, but I realized that even my high state of vigilance was not enough.
It was a great adventure. I'm glad I did it, but would never do it again. It was dangerous then, but much more so now.
Dude, I'm getting a bad feeling here ..... ARRRGGGGHHHH!
X:
Truth is, Pippa's friends come from different worlds than you and I, so it's doubtful any one of them will buy a gun. It's probably the furthest thing from their consciousness. It'd be like you or me going to work for Hillary's campaign; in other words, unthinkable. That's a true shame.
Mike Harbour
For those interested in reading about a case not entirely dissimilar from this one, I would highly recommend Rory Stewart's "The Places in Between".
Unarmed (and accompanied by armed escort for only a portion of the way) but fluent in Persian, Stewart walks across most of Afghanistan in 2002, not too long after the ouster of the Taliban. It is an absolutely amazing read. His other book, "The Prince of the Marshes", about his time in Iraq, is also quite excellent.
"She thought that in the world there were more positive than negative people, and that it was right to be trusting,"
I hate how one bad deed suddenly means we're all bad. Its not so polar. Most people are good, and its fine to be trusting, in the sence that you can't go though life expecting the boogy man around the corner.
There are more positive than negative people, but that doesn't mean there aren't negative people, and that they won't kill you.
The world is filled with good people, and be trusting, but only so far as you are as safe as you can reasonably be.
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