I stand, flabbergasted, as the tour guide explains that the surface we are looking at is basically the counter of an ancient fast food joint.

 

We are in Pompeii, a destination I have read about and dreamed about setting foot in since I was in the fourth grade and tripped across it in books about natural disasters and Ancient Rome. The guide explains that on this main street of the ancient city, called Stabian Road, this little shop was a “hot food store” where people would purchase quick meals. We have already admired the deep grooves worked into the ancient lava stone streets by countless carriages long ago and my mind cannot help but conjure visions of a historic drive-thru.

 

This is the part of history that always fascinates me. No matter how long ago something happened in the past, it often has a parallel to the future. This is because, as humans, although the years may pass and the times may change, we are still people.

I admire the miniature marble steps that rise from the counter as the guide explains their purpose as a resting place for drinks that the server would have passed to the customers. It’s such an efficient system. Ronald would be proud.

I comment to Kaitlyn, who is at my elbow, that it would be like people coming by our McDonald’s stores in hundreds of years and oohing and ahing at the way the windows opened for food delivery, or thought how elegant the construction of the once neon-lit menu was, the architecture of that mundane signage so commonplace to us.

 

Even the graffiti we encounter later as we move on to other sights intrigues me. Sure, the tour guide says that most of our information about politics and city life comes from these scrawlings on walls from people who actually lived the times, but I know from my own research that it was just as common to find “Your Mom” jokes etched there as well…boys will be boys in any time period. This is yet another example of how humanity persists through the ages. The times will change, history will shift, and the world can be turned upside down and covered in literal or metaphoric ash, but people will always be people, and that astounding idea in such ancient places is both comforting and humbling.