Christmas letter to grandchildren
Ruggeri's Cameo
I found a letter that I wrote to my four grandchildren at Christmas 2015. At the time Virginia was 12, Carla Maria 10, Jacopo 7, Ada Rosa 5. The Isis attacks were looming and there was the usual war with which we Westerners have been living for seventy years, but without ever wearing boots.
“Dear friends, about 80 years ago, we listened to Radio London every night. Mom explained to me who the Good Guys and the Bad Guys were. The "Good" ones were the Anglo-Americans, the "Bad" the Germans and the Italians, because except for us and a few others, they were all fascists. We spent the nights in the cellar, because the "Good" people bombarded us, my mother didn't want me to hate them: "They do it to free us", she said (I thought: what freedom is it if I die?). After a bomb destroyed our house (we were saved by a miracle), dad wanted mom and I to leave Turin. We evacuated to Aulla, to our maternal grandparents.
As soon as we arrived there was a terrible bombardment by the Buoni. I was wounded in the leg, I would have bled to death, if a very young German, Otto Hahn, of the SS, hadn't transported me, with his military truck, to the Fivizzano hospital. The doctors said: “A few minutes and he would be dead”. I never saw him again: however, I owed him my life, I haven't forgotten him. His was an act of friendship towards my uncle, a baker, from whom he bought the "schiaccia" every morning. Mother no longer spoke of the Good and the Bad, she explained to me that it was necessary to distinguish between the Chiefs and the People, generally the former were bad, the latter good. Otto was a boy of the people, his Boss, Walter Reder, was not. Since then I left aside the "Good and Bad" dilemma, but never confused "Capi e Popolo" again.
Once upon a time, in a distant time, a middle ground, where Western civilization was born, the Sumerians, the Assyrians, remember? Those peoples, after having been very powerful, rich, civilized, degraded. In 1938, oil was discovered under the sand, the Chiefs became monstrously rich, thanks to us Westerners who bought it, the peoples remained little more than slaves. Something has recently broken, the leaders of the world understand each other less and less, everyone wants to excel, impose their own model of life, everyone makes acts of war, at the same time everyone talks about peace. They pronounce apparently noble words, but in reality they hide bad thoughts, all of them.
My job, as a grandfather, is to do what my mother did with me when I was your age: help you identify the "Good" and the "Bad". I must confess that today this distinction is much more difficult because a third, majority category has been created, that of the "ambiguous". Garments that, sometimes, are just a little better, more often bad, but in a different way, more elegant in form but just as cruel.
In any case, when you hear "Not all Muslims are terrorists, but all terrorists are Muslims", don't be fooled, the same is said of us "Not all whites are murderous colonialist imperialists, but all murderous colonialist imperialists are whites ”.
Don't fall into the trap of simplifications, remember what your great-grandfather Carlo and my dad said: "Understanding is difficult". Dedicate your time and intelligence to "understand", never stop at appearances, never believe everything the bosses and their butlers tell you. Understanding makes you free, this is the most important aspect of life, don't give it up for any reason in the world.
There is a book that you made me know, then love: Harry Potter.
To explain myself better about the "Villains" I will try to use the Harry Potter characters. The villain of the "Villains" is Voldemort, he killed Harry Potter's parents, he is the leader of the Death Eaters. Then there's the slimy snake Nagini, a murderous killer under orders from Voldemort. So Bellatrix Lestrenge and Finnir Greyback, dumb followers of Voldemort, always work in pairs, practicing evil. Lucius Malfoy was one of Voldemort's first followers, he is very loyal to him, but he is a coward.
Among the “ambiguous” (sometimes good, sometimes bad) is Draco Malfoy, he has always been Harry's enemy, he sided against him in the great battle of Hogwarts (2nd Wizarding War, remember?). Severus Snape, on the other hand, I don't understand him, but he's a bad person.
Dear friends, ask your parents, grandparents, uncles about how to pair today's "bad guys" with these characters for fun. And the "Good" ones? I see none other than the Pope. He can be traced back to Harry Potter's best friend, Ron Weasley.
The "Good" par excellence, however, is only one, Baby Jesus, whom Harry Potter would like to resemble, and you too. Be inspired and trust only in him, he is not a boss, he is Baby Jesus, be proud of him. In a few days, celebrate him in the Crib and at Christmas, he will be happy with you, as are your parents and your grandparents.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/ruggeri-letterina-natale-nipoti/ on Sat, 24 Dec 2022 07:05:35 +0000.