L'Italo-Americano

THURSDAY, APRIL 2, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 16 L'Italo-Americano T h i s a r t i c l e h a s been inspired by Laura Marchet- ti's editorial for I l M a n i f e s t o newspaper, published on the 24th of March 2020. "You think, my father, t h a t I c o u l d g o f o r t h leaving you? (…) C o m e t h e n , d e a r father, mount upon my neck; on my own shoul- ders I will support you, a n d t h i s t a s k w i l l n o t weigh me down." Virgil, Aeneid Book II After ten years of siege, Troy has fallen. After ten years of war, his heroes had t o b o w d o w n , n o t t o t h e Achaeans's military superio- rity, but to the most cunning o f s t r a t a g e m s , f r o m t h e most intelligent of adversa- ries, Ulysses. Among pillaging and vio- lence, among slaughter and rape, Troy burns. And Aeneas, Trojan war- rior and hero, gathers his family and his belongings to escape: his father Anchises, old and frail, does not want to leave for fear of becoming soon a burden, for fear of no longer being of help to his son's young family. Rather than abandoning his father, Aeneas decides to go back fighting to seek death in bat- tle, but that's not what the g o d s — w h a t h i s m o t h e r Venus — had in mind for h i m . S o h e r e t u r n s t o Anchises, gently takes him u p o n h i s s h o u l d e r s a n d , with his son Ascanius hol- ding his hand, leaves Troy and his past behind, to run towards safety. T h i s i m a g e , t h a t o f A e n e a s c a r r y i n g h i s elderly father upon his shoulder, far away from danger and death, remains one of the most powerful in c l a s s i c a l l i t e r a t u r e a n d profoundly representative of w h a t o u r b e l o v e d Civilization is. A Civilization born of ideas of Democracy, B e a u t y a n d J u s t i c e t h e G r e e k s a n d t h e R o m a n s sowed and Christianity nur- tured with a new sense of s p i r i t u a l i t y ; t h a t t h e Renaissance cradled delica- tely, with a renewed sense of a w e f o r t h e i m m e n s e mystery existence is, and Illuminism watered with the awareness Humanity could unravel that mystery thanks to intellect. Centuries, millennia of history, but everything goes back to that single image of a son carrying his elderly f a t h e r o n h i s s h o u l d e r s , away from death. Speaking of Aeneas today may appear little related to the dramatic war we've all been fighting, anachronistic even. But, in truth, no image i s a s r e l e v a n t t o t h i s moment of our history than this. Since the very early days of the pandemic , it was evident Covid-19 was parti- cularly aggressive towards the weakest among us: the immunocompromised, the already sick and the elderly. As humans and as r e p r e s e n t a t i v e s o f t h a t Civilization the Greek and the Romans gave us, and that our ancestors fought to m a k e m o r e j u s t , h u m a n e and respectful of all indivi- duals, we have a duty to pro- tect them above and before anyone else, but this hasn't happened. The Italian refrain during the first, convoluted weeks of the pandemic was always, c h i l l i n g l y t h e s a m e : " t h e virus kills the elderly," "the average age of the dead is 81," "the most at risk age b r a c k e t i s 7 0 + " . W e cowardly found comfort in the fact that, if younger, we weren't as much at risk; we, in the early days of the epi- demic in Italy, when no qua- rantine was in place, travel- led around and had our ape- ritivi, immune to viruses and fears, protected by the selfish, inhuman certainty to b e i n v i n c i b l e a n d t h a t s o m e o n e e l s e , s o m e o n e d i s p o s a b l e , w a s g o i n g t o take the slack of it with their lives. W h e n n u m b e r s t a r t e d growing and our hospitals filled with a speed we hadn't seen since the times of the Spanish flu, our healthcare practitioners warned us all: "if you keep on ignoring our call to stay home, we soon won't have respirators enou- gh and we will have to prio- ritize." During those very days my best friend, a doc- t o r , m a d e a p l e a o n Facebook, "Please, don't put us in a position where we will have to take that deci- sion." War medicine, that's what happens on the battle- f i e l d . A n d t h e n c a m e t h e UK, whose initial idea of fighting the virus through "herd immunity" implied so a d a m a n t l y t h e w e a k e r w o u l d d i e t h a t P r i m e M i n i s t e r B o r i s J o h n s o n declared to his people they had to be prepared to lose someone they loved. Survival of the fittest, in t h e c a s e o f I t a l y , v i c t i m s immolated to the altar of economy in that of the UK (which has since changed its mind about its approach to the emergency, embracing the "modello Italia," that is, p r o l o n g e d i s o l a t i o n a n d social distancing): different r o a d s , b u t t h e s a m e e n d result, the sacrifice of those considered less worthy, less useful. And if you think this way of thinking isn't global, well, you're wrong. W h a t h a p p e n e d t o u s ? When did we lose so much contact with our soul and with our human essence to consider acceptable an idea a s m o n s t r o u s a s t h a t o f disposing of the weak, of c o n s i d e r i n g t h e m l e s s worthy than the young and healthy? The elderly of today are t h e w o m e n a n d m e n w h o built the world we live in and the wealth we enjoy. T h e y a r e t h e w o m e n a n d men who experienced and lived history before us, inva- luable treasure of knowled- ge, wisdom and know-how. B u t m o s t i m p o r t a n t l y , they are the men and women who held our hands when we were children, who tau- ght us how to tie our shoes and how to wash our hands; they are the men and women who tucked us in at night and wiped away tears from our faces when we were in pain. The elderly of today are the people who made us w h o w e a r e , t h e y a r e t h e people who taught us what love truly is: they are our fathers and our mothers, our grandfathers and our grand- mothers, to many of us they are the most vivid example o f s t r e n g t h a n d c o u r a g e because, let's face it, certain generations are just stronger t h a n o u r s w i l l e v e r e v e n dream of being. They are the keepers of our history as a people and of our heritage, of our Civilization's values. "Civilization started when Aeneas carried his elderly f a t h e r o n h i s s h o u l d e r s , away from burning Troy," writes Laura Marchetti of Il Manifesto, and she is right. Because caring for and pro- t e c t i n g o u r f a t h e r s a n d mothers does not mean only caring and protecting those who gave us life, but also respecting what they repre- sent: wisdom, love, our sto- ries, our history. It means being Human, being civili- zed, being worthy of respect and love. It means valuing, protecting and cherishing the heart and soul of our human essence. Pick up the phone, ring your parents, your grandpa- rents, protect them, always: t h e y a r e t h o s e w h o m a d e you who you are and gave you all you have. We all need to be Aeneas, today more t h a n e v e r , l e s t t h e l a s t shreds of compassion and love left in this world disap- pear for good. LIFE PEOPLE PLACES HERITAGE Aeneas fights during the Trojan war: his figure symbolizes also care and respect for the elderly (Copyright: Dreamstime) The day Aeneas saved his father from burning Troy and why we should follow his example FRANCESCA BEZZONE

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