VENICE in June is already a little warm and humid for comfort. But the warmth of the Venetians can make one at ease and comfortable the first time you meet them.

While my friends were inside the Louis Vuitton store close to the Piazza San Marco two weeks ago, I bantered with a 70 something Venetian selling beaded bracelets and necklaces which his wife and daughter make.

As I approached, he smiled at me and greeted me ?arigato? thinking I was Japanese. I politely corrected him and he burst in laughter while raising his right hand with palm facing me as if to say sorry, and also blurting, ?Mistake, mistake.?

For the next two minutes or so, he gave a short discourse?which admittedly I did not understand?basically in Italian with occasional English words, then he let out another guffaw at the end. I figured he must have told a joke or at least something funny, so I also chuckled as I nodded my head in approval. This turned out to be a mistake as he started to talk in straight Italian thinking I spoke the language. I hastily interrupted him telling him, ?Sorry, I don?t speak Italian.? He understood and laughed again.

Secret of good health

He gently clutched my left shoulder which I thought was a warm gesture, and in halting English asked me what I do for a living. I said I?m a doctor, and he told me he rarely got sick. ?So what?s the secret of your good health?? I asked repeating ?secret of good health? twice to make sure he understood. He nodded to indicate he did and though grasping for words, he replied, ?Good wine, good wife, happy life.?

He explained himself in Italian which again I didn?t understand, but as he spoke, I couldn?t help but repeat his secret ?good wine, good wife, happy life? over and over again in my mind like a mantra. And as I did, images of people, myself included, who I thought could benefit from this secret of an aging, un-wealthy, but definitely happy and healthy Venetian merchant, flashed in my mind.

People like him may not have big mansions, flashy cars, padded wallets and they do not travel far and wide, but they are satisfied with what they have and are ever grateful for the small blessings they receive every day. They sleep soundly at night, never having to worry about robbers looting their mansions or big stores.

They have enough to get them by and not too much to keep them ever at peace, unmindful of markedly labile stock fluctuations or currency depreciations. They have no grand titles or lofty government positions, but they know they earn their keep honestly and need not worry of being charged with graft and corruption, or unexplained wealth. And this peace of mind and happiness definitely translate to happiness and good health.

Complicated life

When I was starting in my private medical practice, I worked from early morning till about midnight, and would still have to rush back to the hospital when an emergency arose. At the same time, I was active with my advocacy groups and medical organizations. My late father, a retired government physician, asked me one time as I came home one early morning just as he awoke to do his morning exercise if I was happy with my work. I replied I think I was.

He said I lived a complicated life and advised me: ?Simplify your life, and be happy.? And when the merchant I met in Venice told me his secret, I could almost hear my late father whispering to me ?It?s basically the same secret I told you long ago.? And perhaps subconsciously, I answered back, ?Yes Papa, I have always believed you.?