It’ll soon be Halloween in Italy, too.
The local kids’ll be dressing up as witches and wizards, making even more noise than usual, and stuffing themselves with candy.
And marketing departments will be bombarding us with pumpkin-branded seasonal offers (see below).
But witches and wizards are a once-a-year event no longer. Harry Potter mania has entranced my youngest, as it previously did his two elder sisters. He now inhabits a world of spells where nothing is impossible for his young heroes.
His fascination is not hard to understand. Would that we could just wave a magic wand or mutter an incantation to achieve our goals in life. Instead of the mundane world of work or school, we could live out our dreams, whatever they were.
But as anyone who has children knows, only too soon the magic is gone.
Children learn what adults know: making dreams come true is not always feasible, and if it is, time, hard-work, or lots of cash is likely to be involved.
As Vernon Dursley assures us in “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone”, there’s no such thing as magic.
Or is there?
Sometimes dreams CAN be made to come true, though magic wands play little part.
All that’s needed is to take the first step. Then to work out what you need to do next, to make progress towards your goal. Then to do it, probably repeatedly. And to keep your motivation high, and your objective in sight is essential. And to not give up.
Do that and, one day, you’ll look back to see how far you’ve come. You’ll marvel at the progress you’ve made. You’ll look ahead, and your dream will be closer to becoming a reality.
All it takes is to make a start.
Cast a Spell on your Italian this Halloween!
Make your dream of learning Italian come true this Halloween.
Your goal might not be as impossible as you thought. You might just have to make a start. Or re-start, if you already made a start, and your dream didn’t come true yet.
And, of course, you have to say the magic words, which for this particular spell are: “20% Halloween Discount”. Or rather, you have to write them in on the Italian course booking form where it says “I have an offer code”.
Told you there was a pumpkin-themed marketing message on its way! Here it is again in non-magical language:
Want to speak and understand Italian? Book any group Italian language course at our sponsor school in Bologna by 31st October 2012 and claim your 20% Halloween discount on the course fee.
By the way, Italian kids say “dolcetto o scherzetto” when they hammer on your door on 31st October.
Better get down to the supermarket, and stock up on “dolcetti”. And don’t forget the magic words!