Categories: People, Philosophy.
Phrase: "Amore, rispettere, vivere." --Carlos Romano
Translation: "Love, respect, live."

An old man (86 years old, according to the ID card he would show us time and time again) helped us figure out where to take the bus and proceeded to tell us his life story. Joel and I were supremely excited about using our Spanitalian skills but ended up nodding and smiling throughout most of his monologue in a moderate state of incomprehension. Did his wife die? Was he happy with his life? We're not too sure, but he left us with words of wisdom to pass along: amore, rispettere, vivere. These are the essentials in life.
I'm not even sure rispettere is gramatically correct, but that's what I scribbled down in my journal. (It rhymes.) I'm not positive about vivere either, because to say that living is conditional to life is, well, repetitive. I tried to tell him mangiare was essential to life, too, but he replied that there was no point in it if we couldn't share it with the ones we loved. Thoughts?