Once in a while, I learn something new from Instagram, and it makes me feel older than I am. Any trending dance or new term birthed from the internet usually does the trick.
Thirty isn’t an old age, but hearing young people talk gives me the sense that I’m uncomfortably close to playing Bingo on a Friday night and buying a bulk of glucosamine pills.
I heard a new one the other day: My Roman Empire. This phenomenon emerged from the pits of TikTok to the mainstream FYP, with female significant others asking their male counterparts how often they thought of the Roman Empire. The absurdity of the question is then masked by the surprising reality that many men think about the Roman Empire… a lot.
We can unpack that later.
The premise of “My Roman Empire,” is essentially something that takes up a lot of brain space, whether it’s a thought that pops up frequently and without warning or something of genuine interest.
My Roman Empire is that a life-altering book is one language away.
I browsed through an Italian bookstore and found myself drawn to these unknown titles. My casual walk became a rumination about the limitations of language. I love words and want to possess them in all forms.
Not every book can be translated, either because of a lack of license, or because the true meaning gets lost in its pages.
And so, perhaps the greatest book I would ever read exists only in a language I don’t know.
What’s your Roman Empire?