THAT LIGHT THAT PERVIVES AND THAT DISINNS EVERY LIMITS IN THIS SOCIETY IN WHICH THE CULTURE OF DEATH TRIES TO PREVAIL OVER LIFE: PAOLO PALUMBO AND HIS HISTORY OF S.L.A.. MUTED IN "ONLY LIGHT AROUND". AND IN LINE THE EXTRAORDINARY BAND OF "WHEELCHAIR THIEVES"

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The red tape to get what is a right of the disabled, such as a wheelchair or stairlift, invalidity and accompanying pensions so low that they do not in any way cover the health costs they have to bear, they are all realities with which disabled people and their families have to live together every day, as they sing us the rock music the mythical ones Wheelchair thieves.

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Author:
Gabriele Giordano M. Scardocci, o.p.

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PDF print format article

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Paolo Palumbo, sick of S.L.A.. (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) guest at the Sanremo Festival in the season 2017

Incredible as the opening words of John's Gospel both dense with theological and spiritual meanings and at the same time how these meanings continue to illuminate our lives of faith interwoven with a daily uncertainty. Basically it was what the Apostle John wanted, when he composed his Gospel: show that the Incarnation was a true fact, concrete, real, so that this reality could break into our lives to change them once and for all:

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True light came into the world,
the one that enlightens every man.
It was in the world
and the world was made through him;
yet the world did not recognize him (GV 1, 9-10).

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This is the true encounter of faith, with those who transmit the data of the faith of the Incarnation, the one we celebrate every Christmas, even if we forget it too often. Because the Incarnation is the revealed mystery of a Light that pervades humanity in the darkest night. In the darkness of the soul, the torch of the Light of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, it comes to burn and give clarity and warmth in the glacial cold that has reached the point of division of the soul.

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There are obviously those who did not want this Light. He turned away. There are those who therefore rejected Jesus and sentenced him to death. It happened in the history of you and it continues to happen. Even today that Christ's action continues in His Church, there are those who prefer to plot in the shadow of sin, of selfishness, of violence and murder, as I have already spoken through the case of Willy Monteiro in a previous article of mine [see WHO]. but yet, unlike many who have not recognized it, however, there is someone who wanted to take the Light of the Incarnate Word. Although for the perfectionist and materialistic mentality of the world Jesus Christ, today, would be considered a loser.

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Paolo Palumbo, believer and sufferer of ALS (Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis), he wanted to tell his story in a wonderful book entitled: My eyes are enough to fly.

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In front of Paul who lives with this ugly disease since he had 18 year old, I can already imagine the supercazzole of some adult Catholic who is wondering why he didn't immediately ask for euthanasia, because after all «what life would that be?», «Because all those sufferings?», «Why deny him an act of freedom?». Yet Paul's whole life is a response to this immense and inhuman sea of ​​nonsense dictated by the culture of death.. Who reads his posts, it not only comes out of Hitler's euthanasia schemes, but he finds himself catapulted into a positive reality, full of joy and so much faith that makes you reflect and question several times, a reality entirely filled with the Light of the Risen One.

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But let's go in order and start from the beginning: the 10 September 2016, when Paolo was eighteen he was diagnosed with Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis, a progressive neurodegenerative disease affecting motor neurons, or the nerve cells of the brain and spinal cord capable of regulating the contraction activity of the voluntary muscles. When they hear the news, family members fall into a state of shock. In fact, Paolo appears to be the youngest individual affected by this disease, the parents and the brother do not know how to face this very hard test to which they are called. But in the meantime he amazes them all right away by showing incredible strength and positivity. Its strength lies above all in an optimism generated by the grace of God and by the light of Christ that shines in the darkness, who have not won it (cf.. GV 1,5). And so did Paul, his illness abbreviated with the acronym ALS, it goes so far as to rename it: Only Light Around!

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It's hard not to fall in love with Paolo after reading his words, because it is a true force of nature elevated by grace, a concentrate of vitality and stubbornness. In every word of the book you can see how strong his personality is. May, he let himself be overwhelmed by the disease, indeed, with his life he defeats her every day. Nothing is impossible for him, because he began to live from the perspective of memory resurrection, in that dimension of life that overcomes and defeats every death. And so, filled with Trinitarian Light, Paul offers us a masterful lesson on how to deal with our weaknesses. In fact, he himself writes that we are the only ones who impose limits on us, because they are only in our head. Suffice it to say that Paolo took the stage in Sanremo, who met the Supreme Pontiff Francis, the President of the United States of America Barack Obama and the President of the Italian Republic Sergio Mattarella to talk to him about the harsh reality with which disabled people live. Paolo guided a drone through his eyes and invented a way to make people like him feel the flavors of food, due to dysphagia, he can no longer have the pleasure of doing it. And these are just a few of the many things he has done since that fateful one 10 September, when his diagnosis was formulated as a final sentence.

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Paolo Palumbo is an extraordinary person, a true gift of God to humanity, perhaps the only one who is not yet fully aware of it is he, animated by such a great faith that every day gives him the courage to face the many difficulties that his serious illness, but above all society, they place in front of him, moving forward without fear, moved by the culture of life, not from the culture of death.

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Then, if in the story of this radiant life we want to look for a dark out of tune, which, however, completely disregards Paul's illness, the social impact is usual, because that's where there are a lot of things to fix. The reality that should bring help to the disabled, unfortunately it hasn't changed for thirty years.

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The red tape to get what is a right of the disabled, such as a wheelchair or stairlift, invalidity and accompanying pensions so low that they do not in any way cover the health costs they have to bear, they are all realities with which disabled people and their families have to live together every day. And even at this juncture, Paolo never pulled back, together with his inseparable brother Rosario he faced many battles with a "hard face" to assert his rights and those of all the disabled. It's a pity that, as usual, many made promises to him and then abandoned him. Or as Paul says: "The limits are only and only those that we ourselves impose". Therefore, dear friends of The island of Patmos, we draw from the story of Paolo Palumbo the courage to ask God for his Trinitarian Light, that pervades and disintegrates all our limits and all our pride. And for us too, the era of the Only Light Around will begin, the era in which we will become men alive and strong in faith, with the Life and Joy of the Risen One.

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Rome, 3 March 2021

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(With the collaboration of Alessandra Fusco, author of Theological club)

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THE MYTHICAL THIEVES OF WHEELCHAIRS IN "DISTROFICHETTO"

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