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The Joy-Makers

By Tineke Ziemer

September 19^th, 2014

It all started on a crowded street in Venice.
Many of the streets here are so narrow that you can touch the walls on either side at the same time. It’s all foot traffic on the streets and boats in the canals. There are no cars at all—it’s wonderful! The main streets are larger, more like a narrow one-lane street by Canadian standards and they are full of adorable shops selling Venetian masks, markets with fruits and vegetables and of course, people.

On our first full day in Venice, we were making our way through the twists and turns, up and over bridges of every shape and size… when we noticed a big bubble floating overhead. Immediately I saw people smiling and pointing and wondering where this bubble came from. It was twice the size of a basketball! Intrigued, we looked in the direction it had come from, and sure enough, within a couple turns we had discovered the source.

Two men in plain white Venetian masks were creating a symphony of bubbles. They each held two long sticks with a string attached to the ends. One at a time, they dipped the sticks into a bucket filled with suds and to the sounds of classical music, they set the bubbles free to float down the streets and bring smiles wherever they went. It was absolutely magical!

I call them the joy-makers.

Because they genuinely seemed to love bringing happiness to everyone who walked by. Bystanders were enchanted with a street filled with bubbles dancing to the music. It didn’t seem to matter who it was, young and old were delighted! How can you see a bubble and not feel just a little bit happier—a little bit lighter?! It’s like watching your worries float away and pop just like that. Wonderful sounds of laughter filled the piazza.

As always, there are the joy-squashers.

They seemed glad to smugly inform the joy-makers that they weren’t allowed on the streets of Venice without shirts on (I guess it’s a by-law.) For a moment, I was worried the joy would be over, but not easily discouraged, the joy-makers called out, “Does anyone have a shirt?”