L'Italo-Americano

L'Italo-Americano THURSDAY, MAY 28, 2020 www.italoamericano.org 6 NEWS & FEATURES TOP STORIES PEOPLE EVENTS But today, a week after the lockdown was finally eased and the 2nd of June is only a handful of days away, I must sadly admit I a m r a t h e r d i s a p p o i n t e d w i t h s o m e o f m y f e l l o w countrymen and women. While still in the midst of an immense health crisis, while people are still dying, in Italy and all over the world, while infection is still around, we seem to have forgotten the dreadful stench of death and illness that has thickly permeated the air for the past two months. We forgot it isn't over, yet. T h e f i r s t w e e k e n d without quarantine was a disaster: bars and cafés fil- led with people, squares and streets in our cities as crowded as last January, before it all started, with no sign of social distancing being respected and defini- tely not enough face masks around. By the sea, bea- ches were filled with peo- ple sunbathing one beside the other, laughing, joking a n d e n j o y i n g w h a t t h e y believed to be an anticipa- tion of their summer holi- d a y s . F r e e a g a i n ! B e i n g free is our right, they say: that's what's written in our Constitution. Yes, it is, but it also says we, as Italian citizens, have duties, too, and some of us appear to have largely forgotten that part. I'm not talking about the duty of paying your taxes nor about that of going to vote when it's time. I am talking about the neces- sary, absolute, fundamen- tal duty of respecting those w e s h a r e o u r b e a u t i f u l c o u n t r y w i t h . B e c a u s e today more than ever, we h a v e t h e c i v i c d u t y , a s Italians, to remain aware that some among us are more at risk and could die if they catch il virus. We have the civic duty to pro- tect them, and the collecti- vity as a whole, from the immense damages this god forsaken disease can bring. W e h a v e t h e c i v i c a n d human duty to respect the effort of those who never stopped working — in our supermarkets, our phar- macies, our churches, our post offices — so that we maintained a shred of nor- mality and our larders full. We have the strict, moral, civic duty to respect the w o r k o f t h o s e w h o , i n hospitals all over the coun- try, kept on saving lives r i s k i n g t h e i r o w n a n d , t h r o u g h r e s e a r c h , h a v e been making discoveries that ,ultimately, will allow us to really go back to nor- mal sometimes in the futu- re. Because freedom is real o n l y w h e n i t i m p l i e s respect for others and for t h e i r l i v e s a n d e f f o r t s , otherwise the Festa della Repubblica is really only the empty shell of a once- u p o n - a - t i m e b e a u t i f u l creature, painted in green, white and red to make us believe there is still some meaning in it. Yes. This year, we'll cele- b r a t e o u r R e p u b l i c i n a very different way. We'll c e l e b r a t e i t w h i l e w e ' r e trying to win a war against an enemy more deceitful a n d i n s i d i o u s t h a n a l l others, one we cannot said v a n q u i s h e d u n t i l a j a b against it is created. It's a difficult time for the world and it's a difficult time for u s , t h a t ' s w h y w e m u s t r e m e m b e r w h a t b e i n g a good Italian citizen means: show resilience, be caring, e m b r a c e f r e e d o m , b u t never use it against others. So please, while you clap f o r d o c t o r s , f l y t h e f l a g from your window and sing i n t h e s t r e e t , w e a r t h a t face mask and keep your d i s t a n c e : b e c a u s e f r e e - dom, for an Italian, should always be synonym with respect. Continued from page 4 The Frecce Tricolori have been flying over the skies of Italy's regional capitals this week. On the 2nd of June, they will be in Rome, like every year (Photo: Dreamstime) President Sergio Mattarella will be in Rome to pay his tribute to the Republic by visiting the Altare della Patria. He will then fly to Lombardia and visit Codogno, the first Covid-19 red zone in Italy (Photo: Dreamstime)

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