Dear Director Feltri,
with the law 31 July 2005, n. 159, the “National Feast of National Feasts” was established for October 2, in order to underline, in families and in all society, the fundamental value and the positive role of elderly people in the education of the younger generations. In Naples where, after being established some time ago, the figure of the civic grandfather disappeared, he could represent
Also the opportunity to enhance the contribution that the elderly can give for the solution of some problems very much felt by parents and pupils, such as those of security outside school complexes, which cannot always be guaranteed by the police. Unfortunately, the Neapolitan municipal administration has no longer provided for the funds to pay the civic grandparents who have operated in the past, receiving praise from families.
In this regard, I also addressed an appeal to the President of the Republic, in the hope that the civic grandparents, renamed by the children’s grandparents angels, could resume their social service in front of the schools.
Gennaro New Year
Dear Gennaro,
I have never been a grandfather in the classic sense of the term. I have never done as a babysitter, I never accompanied the grandchildren to school holding them by the hand, I never prepared the snack and I never took them to the park to play. I am a grandfather sui generis: one who continued undaunted to work, write, to deal with newspapers and politics even when he would have had all the justifications to hang the pen on the nail and devote himself only to the toys of the little ones and the family. However, this does not mean that I do not recognize the extraordinary role of grandparents, on the contrary. I recognize it to the point that I would like a grandfather too.
The truth is that the figure of grandparents is fundamental in the life of children and young people and also adults. It is no coincidence that certain teachings given by a grandfather remain more impressed than those of the parents themselves. Because grandparents are a vehicle of tenderness, a source of wisdom, represent the living memory of the family and society.
They are a casket of experiences from which to draw, and the grandchildren, even if at the beginning they do not realize it, retain those warnings and those gestures as an invaluable heritage.
Today, however, the huge error of looking at the elderly is made as a weight, a cost, almost a theft. Social discontent on them is projected, as if they were usurper of the future of young people. It is a disgusting and short -sighted attitude: never like today, in an era in which the family is fragile and often disrupted, the presence of grandparents represents a vital resource. Other than weight: they are an anchor, a garrison of stability.
You quote the so -called civic grandparents, who in Naples carried out a precious surveillance service outside schools. Renamed by the children’s grandparents angels, they made a real contribution to the safety and serenity of the parents. Seeing this figure disappear for budgetary issues is yet another demonstration that the left can only cut where it should not. Money is wasted for a thousand idiocies and save
Just on what works, which approaches the generations, which creates confidence.
I myself, although not the grandfather of the fairy tales, I believe that the whole society should recover the respect due to its elderly. It is a matter of civilization. It is not just about recognizing what grandparents give to the grandchildren, but also of what they give to the community with their presence, their wisdom and with a direct service such as that of civic grandparents.
The truth, dear Gennaro, is that Italy survives more for grandparents than for governments.
Grandparents hold families, pay the expenses with their sweaty and not stolen pensions, help children and grandchildren, and in the meantime they see themselves treated as waste. Other than ritual celebrations on October 2: grandparents should be respected and enhanced every day.