Anna's Demons

Author’s note

Every one of our choices is our own. We are always responsible for our own actions and decisions.

And yet, in our ancient culture, we need to draw a distinction between rational, ordinary choices and irrational ones. When we make or witness irrational choices, we want to think that something different is taking over our minds.

It’s easier to understand and even justify the self-destruction of an addict, an alcoholic or a heavy smoker. We can link their behaviour to a chemical factor, whether it’s the drug, the alcohol, or the nicotine.

But how can we accept and rationalise why someone would burn everything because of obsessive gambling, or destroy a happy life and family for a few hours of lust? And yet it happens every day and everywhere in the world, and we prefer to blame an external entity that we call a “demon” instead of blaming ourselves.

This is the story of Anna, an Italian wife and mother. It’s a sort of diary, where she drives us around her demon, telling us how she burned herself and lost the beautiful life she valued

The story is mine and originates entirely from my imagination. It is set in Italy, and I kept the Italian names for my characters. None of them, nor the facts here, are real; they are all products of my fantasy.

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