Let's agree

As you all have noticed, in recent years it is increasingly rare to meet peaceful people who get along with everyone. What we used to call pieces of bread have disappeared from the horizon… and I know someone who would say that the pieces of something else have increased exponentially. But that's another story. The world is increasingly divided into categories and subcategories and it's a moment to find yourself in the middle of a discussion. The other day, faced with the scene of a friend who was chopping wood with a bare chest, it occurred to me spontaneously to say to him: "You really are a real man". I turn to my daughter who looks at me and says, "Dad, you're a sexist."

So I turn to my friend and offering him a cold beer I say to him: «Come on, let's have a beer, so much with that paunch that you find yourself nobody notices!». “Dad, did you know that this is body shaming?” the 15-year-old replies from around the corner. I'm not sure what has happened in recent years, but by now someone is offended by something when they breathe.

At Sermig we carry out (among others) the service of giving a change of clothes to those living on the street who are in difficulty, so, thanks to many goodwill volunteers, we prepare packages with complete changes, more or less 600 per month. There are users of all ethnicities and religions and sometimes it happens that "the customer" for some reason is not satisfied with the service. Here are some incidents I witnessed. An Italian with drug problems opens the bag of clothes and, not satisfied, blurts out: "You only give the good stuff to 'niggers'" and goes away screaming. A Rumanian, fed up with having to wait, says: «You help the Moroccans and the “niggers” right away», and goes away slamming the door. A visibly upset Moroccan, not satisfied, I don't quite understand why, tells us: «You treat the Romanians and the "blacks" like kings». Lastly an Egyptian: «You only like Moroccans, Romanians and “Negroes”». To which I have an epiphany: on one thing they all agree, for some reason obscure to me, 150 years after slavery everyone still has it in for "blacks". But at the end of the day a Congolese arrives, takes the sack and gently exiting gives an answer to all my questions: «God bless you».

Andrea Gotico

NP Giugno-Luglio 2023