The passover dinner

The day before yesterday, I had dinner with Cecilia and her husband Riccardo. They are a lovely couple with whom you can discuss almost any topic. Before the wine ran out, I started talking nonsense; I told them that I find it strange that, in capitalism, the fear of losing a job is more significant than the fear of death. When a person dies, their problems die with them; however, when one loses their job, the problems multiply by a thousand.

Cecilia countered my argument, saying that capitalism offers the freedom to reinvent oneself, unlike my gloomy Marxist ideas that clearly failed. On the other hand, Riccardo, who is a public servant in the town hall, confirmed this. "If they fire me, I wouldn't know how the hell to pay the mortgage to the bank."

The conversation took a turn when, taking advantage of Easter, we played a game to find similarities between Marx and Jesus; of course, beyond their aversion to materialism. "Both changed the world!" said Riccardo, "and they were bearded revolutionaries!" Cecilia replied. I told them that Karl's problem was that he got too involved and didn't keep everything in the realm of ideas. I remembered that joke about Borges' father, who said that Jesus was like the gauchos, unwilling to commit, and that's why he preached in parables.

"What is a gaucho?" asked Riccardo, but unfortunately, it was time to leave. The wine had already run out.