Gypsies

August 11, 2013

Gypsies live in tents along the side of the road.  We are cautioned to avoid gypsies if we don't want to lose our wallets or purses from pickpocketing.

Gypsies have been around for a long time.  They live in little colonies just like they have for years and years.  They move from area to area and have no permanent location they call home.  The children don't attend school.  Instead they are taught from the time they are just tiny how to steal.  Little tiny hands slip easily into purses and bags.  Nobody expects a small child to be a thief.  Older children are trained in the art of pickpocketing.  They are taught how to bump against someone and while that person is concentrating on catching their balance, they either pick their pocket or snatch their purse.

In the early mornings, you can see gypsies going from garbage can to garbage can collecting anything they can find.  They carry a hook with them that looks much like the hook we use to lift the lid off a dutch oven.  They use the hook to rip open bags and then lift whatever looks interesting out of the garbage.  They put the items in grocery bags with wheels (I have one I take to the market to put my fruit in) or else in baby carriages.

It's a cultural thing.  It's all they have ever known.  They've never been taught there is a different way of life.

In many ways they remind me of the Lamanites in the Book of Mormon.  The Lamanites followed in the tradition of their fathers.  Over and over they told the Nephites they didn't believe what they had to say because their fathers never taught them any differently.  They believed what they had been told.  After all, why would their fathers lie to them?

Not only was it just the Lamanites, but the Nephites also turned against the traditions of their fathers and did many wicked things and taught their children to be wicked.  They were counseled that they would be responsible for the sins of their children.

In Jacob 3:10 it says:

Wherefore, ye shall remember your children, how that ye have grieved their hearts because of the example you have set before them; and also, remember that ye may, because of your filthiness, bring your children unto destruction, and their sins be heaped upon your heads at the last day.

In Italy, we struggle to teach the people because they say "We were born a Catholic and we will die a Catholic" not because of any great conviction, but just because that's the way it's always been.  We have to teach about a new way of life and a knowledge that there is a God who cares and watches over us everyday--a God who hears and answers prayers and is aware of everything we do.  It's a big stumbling block for us; one we work everyday to overcome.