Mattarella, the son of the dead professor: “My father’s letter will never be forgotten”

“My father’s letter to the students when he retired will never be forgotten. I won’t forget it either. A beautiful letter.” These are the only words spoken to Adnkronos by Mario Emanuele Carmina, the thirty-year-old son of Professor Pietro Carmina, who died in the explosion of Ravanusa last December 11. The young man, an only child, is still excited by the words pronounced a few moments earlier by the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella in his year-end speech. And he doesn’t want to add anything else to Adnkronos. “This is not the time …”, he says. The Head of State wanted to remember the letter written by Professor Pietro Carmina, a professor of philosophy much loved by his students, in 2018 before retiring. “I would like to recall the moving letter from Professor Pietro Carmina, a victim of the recent, dramatic collapse of Ravanusa,” said Mattarella. “Professor of philosophy and history, retiring two years ago, he wrote to his students: ‘Use the words I taught you to defend yourself and to defend those who don’t have those words. Don’t be spectators but protagonists of the story you live today . Get inside, get your hands dirty, bite your life, don’t adapt, commit yourself, never give up on pursuing your goals, even the most ambitious ones, put those who can’t make it on your shoulders. You are not the future, you are the present. Please: never be indifferent, don’t be afraid to take risks so as not to make mistakes … ‘”. “I make mine – with respect – these words of exhortation so effective, which also show the dedication of our teachers to their educational task”, added Mattarella. Leaving his students three years ago, Professor Carmina had dedicated beautiful words to them: “I would like you to know that one of my happiness consists in feeling remembered; one of my joys is knowing that you are affirmed in life; one of my satisfactions is conscience and awareness of having tried to teach you that life is not a scratch and win: life grabs, bites, is conquered. I have learned something from each of you, and from all the joy of living, vitality, dynamism, enthusiasm, the desire to fight “. After the collapse of Ravanusa, where nine people died, hundreds of former students wrote on the teacher’s Facebook page, many affectionate messages, memories, words written for him: “We will be forever immensely grateful”. “It is the teacher who marks your path”, many say. Gioacchino LC had posted a photo of a letter that his teacher wrote to him: “I have carefully guarded, for more than 20 years, this letter that he wrote to me to console myself for the loss of my father. I thought it was right to share it to make known to all the kindness, elegance and goodness that made hundreds of students fall in love with you. You were right in these lines: wisdom or philosophy in similar circumstances is of little use! It will remain forever in our thoughts Prof. Pietro Carmina ” . And tonight the memory of the President of the Republic Sergio Mattarella. (by Elvira Terranova)