Not long ago, I heard President Ciampi speak with conviction about journalists' duty to meet citizens' hunger for "information about positive models, about social commitment, about nobility of spirit, about dedication to others."
He was right. We are tired of tragic news—news that must, of course, be reported. But there is no reason to lengthen the list with merciless detail, with sensational gossip about public figures, with unnecessary medical bulletins and the empty promises of charlatans, with pessimistic forecasts about our daily lives.
We could do without all of that. What we urgently need is to hear—for our own sake, and for our children and grandchildren—that another Italy exists. It makes no headlines. Yet it is healthy, engaged, and full of solidarity.
Even as we share the heartbreak of millions of sorrows unfolding in our world, we would like—at least now and then—to catch our breath and learn about "the inventions of love" that flourish across our peninsula:
- new initiatives, conceived with care and commitment for the young, the elderly, and newcomers…
- new medical and scientific discoveries
- new ways of reaching people in prison, especially the young
- new public spaces, equipped for outdoor living, for walking and cycling
- new jobs, of every kind, to give direction to so many young people who no longer know where to turn…
We would like to hear stories of the many forms that good volunteer work takes—work that makes room for those struggling to find meaning and purpose in their free time.
We would like to know how hard doctors, nurses, caregivers, priests, and nuns work and sacrifice themselves for people in difficulty of every kind.
We would like to hear about all the women who—leaving their families and children behind—live in thousands of our homes, working and caring for our many aging parents.
Listening to President Ciampi, I thought of hundreds of mothers and fathers who have spent thirty, forty years living beside a disabled child. They, too, deserve to be heard, interviewed, brought before the cameras—not to elicit pity, not to move us to tears, but simply to tell the story of their greatness as women and men who, through the strength of love, accomplish daily acts of patience and heroism that most of us can scarcely imagine.
So, Mr. President, I would ask you to set aside many gold medals and reserve them for these parents. They are an essential part of that noble and great Italy—unfortunately hidden and unknown.
by Mariangela Bertolini, 2004