Posted on 06/30/2012 7:33:35 AM PDT by DeaconBenjamin
Mystery man helps the poor, paying off debts and rent arrears. “I’ve worked in major banks and I know hundreds of bankers could do the same thing”
The man who brings hope has just found a home for someone who is unemployed and has been living in an old car for two years. He turned up in Milan’s Stadera district and knocked on the closed car door. Sleeping inside was Gaspare Tumminello, his unkempt beard and missing teeth eloquent of uninvited despair. Until he was 46, Gaspare ran a bar and made his own way in the world. Then came debts, loans and illness. Gaspare lost everything. At 54, he had no benefits and a tumour to deal with. With barely enough to eat and unable to pay the rent, he began to sink lower and lower.
“Milan is a hard, ruthless place but no one should live like this”, said the stranger who had come to help. Within the week, the old car was consigned to a garage. Tumminello now sleeps in a bed, his rent and living expenses paid. The poor have to get by somehow or other but a helping hand makes the future look less bleak. Dignity and a way forward become possible. The incredulous Tumminello thanked the stranger, who tucked a cheque into Gaspare’s pocket: “If you need something to eat, here’s the wherewithal. Do your therapy and good luck. One piece of advice – never give up”. That advice has been followed by the other hard-pressed Milan residents helped out by the nameless Samaritan, who appears and then disappears without warning.
One of them was Noemi, a pensioner who had got into debt trying to keep her Viale Molise social housing unit in decent condition. She wanted a refrigerator but couldn’t afford one so she told her story to the Corriere della Sera, describing the shame felt by a woman who has to struggle every day to keep the wolf from the door: “I’m one step away from begging”. The Good Samaritan went to see her: “We’re going to the bank to straighten out your account”, he said. “Here’s the fridge. And some new glasses if you need them. Plus a bit of cash for your expenses over the next few months. Let me know how you’re getting on”.
A vein of spontaneous charity runs through Milan. It’s not looking for publicity, nor does it want its name in the papers. Its only motive is to give a little hope to those who are at, or have been forced onto, the margins of society. People should know this charity exists. It tells us that not everything is getting worse. There is more than just bad, slap-in-the-face-type news to report. Salvatore Jacono and his children are a case in point. Salvatore bemoaned the fact that he had got into debt give them an education and had to work round the clock to stay out of the clutches of loan sharks. No cinema, no pizzas and no holidays for several years. But it still wasn’t enough. Salvatore’s two wages as a railwayman and hotel porter evaporated and he was forced to beg. Then the Samaritan who helped out Gaspare and Noemi appeared when he least expected it. “I’ll pay for your kids’ education”, said the stranger. “We’ll pay off your debts a bit at a time. Stay in touch. I want to know how the boy’s report and the university marks are going...”.
If life is a search for moments of happiness, it’s good to know someone is there to help us find them. The Good Samaritan’s visits tell us we spend too much of our lives closed up in ourselves. “I worked in banking and I can assure you that there are hundreds of bank executives with million-euro incomes who could do what I did. But perhaps they flick through the local news and go straight to the entertainment pages”. In a few years’ time, little Mohamed will also thank the nameless Samaritan. Mohamed’s parents left Tunisia to seek help for his rare genetic disease, which had destroyed his immune defence system. Doctors at the polyclinic in Pavia – the only ones in Europe – were all set to operate but they needed a donor with compatible bone marrow. Appeals were made on Italian and Arabic-language TV channels for three years but without success. Mohamed’s father, a university teacher in Tunisia, worked as a refuse collector at the hospital to pay for the trip, the birth of a younger brother made the transplant possible and now Mohamed is off the danger list. His family, however, is on the brink of collapse and needs help. Financial help. So along came the Samaritan, who found a decent place for them to live, helped out the father and paid for Mohamed’s first-ever holiday. The Samaritan is also paying for the family’s return trip to Tunisia when Mohamed’s treatment is complete.
There is in Italy a solidarity that doesn’t register on anyone’s radar. The poor suffer in silence. Who knows how many more situations have been solved like this, by the discreet generosity of a nameless donor? But line them up and you’ll see there are many such stories. They make news, and it’s good news. Take Anna and Virginia, a mother and daughter reduced to poverty by illness and unemployment. The Samaritan was stunned that no one had offered to help two women with no wage or pension coming in. He duly wrote a cheque to tide them over the emergency and enable them to face life with a smile. “I’m not strange”, says the Samaritan. “You’re strange if you turn your back on people who are down on their luck”.
That’s why he also helped out Aldo, a pensioner who looks after a homeless couple’s children. Aldo lives in the Calvairate district and spends his days driving the kids to school in the centre of Milan and back. The parents return in the evening but have to live apart while they wait for a social housing unit. They’ve been waiting for ten years and there are 22,000 others on the list. Aldo’s problem was the Ecopass congestion charge for his old car, which is too expensive for someone who has to get by on a monthly pension of €450. The Samaritan gave Aldo a car, complete with tax and insurance.
Why? “I’ve explained why to my children. The haves should help the have nots. The value of our actions is directly proportionate to what we go without in order to help others. I believe that a pensioner who gives twenty euros does much more than someone like me, who doesn’t have to do without anything, even luxuries”. Cardinal Martini says that we should feel responsible for certain people. It is good sometimes to talk about the solidarity that solves desperate cases in return for gratitude, “the timid wealth of those who have nothing”, as Emily Dickinson called it.
This is real charity, not the sham welfare state supported by confiscatory redistribution of wealth.
In order to help alleviate the suffering of Italians in this terrible time, perhaps the Pope could sell some of the millions of dollars worth of gold and jewels amassed by the church. After all, Jesus taught in the parable of the Good Samaritan that everyone in need is our neighbor.
Jesus also said, “For everyone to whom much is given, of him shall much be required.” — Luke 12:48
This is what Christian charity is supposed to be. If you do this, you will not be sorry. There are many working class people on the brink of ruin and in need. Those already ruined are rewarded with welfare. God will put people you can help in your path if you ask Him to.
There is nothing more powerful and healing on earth than God’s love and mercy - for the giver and the receiver. If you want God to heal the country, do this if you can afford it.
For example, I’ve found myself behind people in line who need a boost. Like at the hospital when I had cancer, a mom was struggling to make the payment for her son’s care and so I was able to pay it off for her so her son’s care would not be interrupted. Another woman was telling the receptionist that she could not afford the tanks of gas to bring her husband the long way to the hospital for treatment twice a week so I was able to give her money to make it easier for her. Recently a young mother lost her glasses at work and found out her insurance would not cover replacement and she expressed to the clerk that she did not have the money to replace them but needed them for work. So my husband bought her glasses. They always say ‘no’ and then ask why and I say because God loves you. I never see them again and that’s fine with me.
Are you saying that the Roman Catholic Church needs to be more like you personally? (And are you aware of the work of Catholic Charities?) Or are you saying that the needs of the poor are the responsibility of organizations, and not individuals?
"The welfare state" could never endure these parameters.
Identity was lost.
Meanwhile , Asia laughs its socks off!
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