368. Italy’s Crises Provokes Suicides?

At Eternity’s Gate –
Vincent Van Gogh – November 1888.

Yesterday, Romeo 62 and Annamaria 68, in the province of Macerata, on the Adriatic coast were found hung in their basement. When Annamaria’s brother Giuseppe 73 who lived near-by discovered what had happened, threw himself in the sea, his body was found hours later.

One feels anger and sadness at having to talk about these events because under normal circumstances these deaths would most likely not have occurred. Looking at such actions one is forced to ask, how much burden can the human mind uphold before it disintegrates into despair?

Annamaria was a pensioner and it was with her €500 per month pension that the couple lived on. This was because Romeo was a victim of the “Fornero Pension Reform” (Monti’s government) which meant he was an “esodato”, namely someone who had retired but the pension had been postponed by two years for which he had to pay heavy tax contribution stamps in order to obtain a pension eventually.  Please someone tell me, who could possibly have invented such a diabolical system? Indeed the Monti technicians alone!

Therefore, Romeo and Annamaria had forfeited their house to the banks to pay for the pension contributions, but even so it was not enough. Romeo had worked as a constructor all his life, but now he was in a position that he could no longer work, nor could he obtain a pension and on top of that he had to pay heavy voluntary monthly contributions to gain a postponed pension.

However, the final straw was that the Italian tax office sent him a heavy claim for unpaid taxes- yes the Italian tax office will throttle the small firms and “pretend” they can’t catch the big fishes!

And more… what added insult to injury was that the tax office was going to confiscate their car- a blue panda…

Wait for it- the panda was 20 years old, what use would that have been to the tax office? Whereas to Romeo and Annamaria it meant their world.

So, this is why I ask, how much burden can the human mind uphold before despair sets in?

Fair enough, one may say, but why on earth did Annamaria’s brother, Giuseppe take his life? After all he had a pension of €900 a month. One cannot blame his death on the crisis. Perhaps the death of his sister and brother-in-law had shocked him to such extent that death seemed the only solution.

No… I cannot agree that death, suicide is the only solution. Suicide is and remains a slap in the face to God who has breathed that life into each one of us.  It is not right to kill, not even ourselves, ever!

Sources: Coppia Suicida per la crisi