In Italy I saw this shirt or some version of it all over the place, usually worn by young people.

When I pointed it out to my husband (whose area of study frequently takes him to Italy), he explained that much of the time Italians will wear T-shirts with logos or expressions whose meaning they don’t understand.

Maybe this struck me because I’ve just written a book built on the assumption that we Americans, in contrast, actually understand (or seek to understand) the meaning of the bumper stickers we put on our cars.

On our last day in the charming village of Vernazza on the coast of the Mediterranean, we were standing at a counter drinking our espressos—a commendable habit that became delightfully easy to slip into—when our server approached wearing a T-shirt with some flashy picture of a car…or moose…or something, with an indiscernible expression in big, bold red lettering. My husband asked the young man what his shirt said. The man smiled and with a hint of self-deprecation, shrugged, and replied, “I don’t know.”

We all laughed.

On that note, go seize the day.