Today is a wonderful day

My whole website lives on images. This page does not. Here you will not find a single photograph: only words. These are the stories of the grandparents I met in a care home — and words, on their own, are enough. Indeed: here they reign supreme.

A name confers dignity

“None of us can live without love. A wretched form of slavery into which we can fall is to believe that love has to be earned. Perhaps much of the anguish of modern men and women comes from this: the belief that if we are not strong, attractive and beautiful, then no one will take care of us. It is the path of meritocracy. So many people today seek visibility only to fill an inner emptiness: as if we were people forever in need of reassurance. But can you imagine a world where everyone begs for reasons to draw the attention of others, and no one instead is willing to love another person freely? Imagine a world without the gratuitousness of love. It looks like a human world, but in reality it is hell. So much human narcissism is born of a feeling of loneliness, even of orphanhood. Behind so many seemingly inexplicable kinds of behaviour hides a question: is it possible that I do not deserve to be called by name? That is, to be loved — for love always calls by name.”

Pope Francis · 14 June 2017

When I heard this address by Pope Francis, I understood how important it is not to use only the title “Madam” or “Sir”, but to learn to call every resident of the care home by name. A name confers dignity: you are not a number, a patient, just another sick person — you are a PERSON. Even if you are old, ill, unattractive, even if you dribble from the mouth and have lost your memory or no longer speak at all, you will always have the right to be loved… loved FREELY!

Riccardo Beretta – AVO Concorezzo volunteer