Italian
It’s a true story that I want to tell.
Giovanni is 36 years old. He is an imposing man, standing one meter and ninety tall, robust. Yet, inside that large body resides a disarming fragility. He moves like a child, speaks with a stutter, and maintains a pure and gentle smile with which he constantly asks for help. But beneath that smile lies a chasm: the belief, repeated endlessly, that he is “completely broken.” He says he no longer has a heart. He no longer has a chest. He has nothing left. He was born with a significant intellectual disability, lives with his parents, and during the day attends a day center.
The breaking point dates back ten years ago, during a regular August camping vacation. In the showers, a group of boys decides to turn cruelty into entertainment: they set fire to a spray perfume can with a lighter and throw it at Giovanni. The can explodes upon contact with Giovanni’s chest, engulfing him in flames. Scared, terrified, Giovanni runs outside naked. Awaiting him is the final humiliation: the amused laughter of those present at his terror and nudity.
Since that day, Giovanni’s life has come to a halt. His mind has become foggy, trapped between shame and trauma. Sometimes agitation and anger arise, but not tears: only that lost smile and the desperate plea for care to piece together what has been destroyed.
When the sun darkens during an eclipse, the darkness lasts only a few moments, then the light returns. The human mind, overwhelmed by horror and senseless cruelty, does not have the same fortune: it can remain in darkness forever. This is what frightens us, how can cruelty reach a point of losing all human traits. Animals harm out of necessity, humans take pleasure in striking those who cannot defend themselves and cannot imagine the harm they cause. This is the eclipse, a mind that no longer thinks and cannot conceive the pain of others, it is the absence of compassion, the darkness of existence.
