Summer is over. Rain falls heavily across the peninsula. Figs and grapes, schoolbags and books — they all usher in autumn.
We've returned refreshed from the sea or the mountains, but the newspapers and television bring us daily news of catastrophes, terrorism, massacres. They weigh heavy on all our hearts, already burdened by the loss of loved ones who have left us.
Where do we find the strength, the peace to begin a new year?
Think of the families among our readers who have lived for years with a handicapped child who is growing up, with nowhere to go. For whom there is no place.
Time passes. It slips away. And it seems things grow worse, not better. Most parents wait patiently for services to be set up — places to live, housing, jobs, schools. The older ones struggle to hope. The younger ones don't think about it: there's still time. For now, he goes to school with the other children.
Ombre e Luci was born to widen the circle of those who offer care, to spread understanding of this problem as far as possible, and to foster the kind of solidarity that becomes real help. We are keenly aware of how much remains to be done, how many families still need our support.
We are also convinced — as we have said before — that parents themselves bear the primary responsibility for the education and future of their handicapped children. If they do not act, if they do not make an effort (not merely asking and waiting), then "the others" — volunteers or public institutions — will not act either. The opposite is true: we have seen it and lived it on a small scale. "The others" show interest and participate when projects are invented, proposed, and launched by someone.
That is why we have decided that a 1987 issue of Ombre e Luci will focus on this very theme: "Parents at Work." Our goal is to show that it is possible to create and prepare "something good" — that something we long for but often await with a sense of resignation.
This issue, which will offer models to follow, is only possible with help from those willing to send us articles, documentation, photographs of initiatives launched by parents and supported by others. The field is broad: associations, special schools, workshops, clubs, recreational programs, vacations, group homes.
We welcome your participation — and also your criticism of this proposal. A magazine is alive only when there is real dialogue between editors and readers.
A letter from a mother in Bolzano, courageous and enterprising, will—we hope—inspire you to send us your own contribution.
Certainly, some of you will object: "But how can I do this when I'm already so tired? I don't have a spare moment. I have no special abilities."
It's true that not every parent has the resources or skills to start something new. But others have done it. And it is something to simply gather together to talk about it, to ask for help.
All I can do is urge every parent — and every reader of this magazine — to have faith, to come together, and to offer what time and ability each of us has. Little by little, step by step, something will grow.
We ask the Lord to encourage each of us to resume our daily journey, knowing that our brothers and sisters — young and old — who have left us for heaven will not forget to stand at our side.
by Mariangela Bertolini, 1986