One of life's hardest trials is to be wounded in what we hold most dear: our own child.
One of the deepest frustrations is to feel helpless in the face of a truth: our child will never be what we hoped he or she would be.
One of the greatest griefs is to know that the mark of handicap, striking an innocent, will remain for a lifetime.
So tested, parents of a handicapped child find themselves torn between two paths:
- to turn away, to distract themselves, to pretend he or she is not there, to harden their hearts;
- to bend entirely toward the child, to shield them excessively, to be crushed beneath the weight of their trial, to lose hope;
- to hope, to gather strength, to fight: to help their child grow into all that is possible, despite all that is limited.
With Ombre e Luci, we speak to parents, friends, and teachers of handicapped people—children, teenagers, adults—who live these trials each day and know these choices well. We seek, together, in the light of Christian faith and with each person's help,
- to know the handicapped person better, to understand them, to help them grow;
- to receive the gifts they have to offer us.
Ombre e Luci is the Italian edition of Ombres et Lumière, a magazine published in France by the Office Chrétien des Handicapés and edited by parents, teachers, doctors, priests, and friends—people who share their witness and their expertise.
Witness and expertise rooted in the lived experience of many who have spent years sharing joy, sorrow, and struggle together.
We believe these pages answer a real hunger, because many of you have asked for them. This is why we count on you, our first readers, to reach the greatest number of people who await someone, something, to break their isolation: from a family in a remote village to a person living in the anonymous outskirts of a city.
We hope that Ombre e Luci will bring to everyone a gust of wind that clears away the clouds, that brings courage and the push to walk TOGETHER.
_ Editorial Board, 1983