Some years ago I knew a man who had been in the OSS (Office of Strategic Services) during and after World War II. The OSS was the intelligence service of the US military at that time, having since been replaced by the CIA and other organizations. My friend was a native of the US but was fluent in three languages besides English – German, French and Italian – and served undercover in Europe for a number of years. The stories he told of his adventures were fascinating and sometimes very humorous. During one of our conversations, he told me a story that has come to have special significance for me. In Italy, he said, the drinking of wine is an everyday occurrence and Italians take it for granted. Every neighborhood restaurant has, as a matter of course, wine in a plain bottle sitting at each table for its guests. Whenever a tourist, such as an American, comes in and sits down, a waiter will come with a fancier bottle of wine to replace the bottle that is on the table. The American believes that he is receiving special treatment because he is being served a better wine. That’s not so, said my friend. Each restaurant is very proud of its reputation and takes the wine it serves seriously. It wants to be noted by its clientele as having fine wine. So if you ever have an occasion to visit a restaurant in Italy, my friend said, and the waiter comes to substitute the bottle on the table with a fancier one, tell him to leave the bottle that is there. The best wine is on the table. I have since come to look upon this story in a new light. There have been many times in my life that I became dissatisfied for one reason or another and wished for a change. Sometimes I acted upon that desire and sometimes the change I achieved was better but most of the time it was not. Through all these experiences I have come to have a greater appreciation for the good things I already have. I have found that the surest way of having more good things in my life is not so much by pursuing them but rather by allowing them to come to me. By appreciating the good things I already have, I attract other good things to my life. Perhaps it is a process of simply acquiring knowledge of what is worth appreciating. There will always be the temptation to become dissatisfied with life; always the allure of what I do not have. Exotic wines in fancy bottles will continue to beckon to me from the pages of magazines or in the tales of others, but over the years I have become more critical of their value. The best wine is already on the table. |
