Credit: RSI
Finding a message tucked away in a library book or rolled up in a bottle is a unique sensation that we are almost always guaranteed to find wonder and pleasure in. Bestselling author of Follow Your Heart, author Susanna Tamaro, wants to contribute to that sensation.
She took to a ten Euro bill with a pencil (so not to risk invalidating the bill with ink) and wrote her favorite phrase from one of her favorite books, Anima Mundi: “Love is attention.” Instead of leaving the bill in an inconspicuous location for someone to find down the line, she went about distributing the note in a different way– she spent it in the Italian city of Orvieto Scalo.
Credit: Corriere
“The messages written on the banknotes are not very different from those thrown into the bottles,” Tamaro writes on her Facebook page. “Once they leave your hands they mysteriously go around the world hoping to be intercepted by someone capable of appreciating the message.”
In a world where we are so consumed by all things virtual (especially during this global pandemic), Tamaro wishes to bring a little wonder back into the physical world with her “little poetic rebellions.” She invites others to do the same– just a short sentence from perhaps their favorite poet– in order to bring some light to someone else’s life. One never knows how much a small gesture such as this could mean to someone struggling during these times.
Credit: DiLei
“My life has always been lonely, but all around [us now] is a great uncertainty and anxiety,” Tamaro says. “It is the lowest moment of our life since the war, we must begin to think that nothing will be the same again. But we can also imagine that it will be better than before. It is a great opportunity to change course, to simplify things, to have primary objectives. Let’s feed hope.”
