«You wanted to travel and I promise you that I will take these trips for you. I will dedicate all my goals to you.” This promise accompanies the solemn greeting of Elena, Chiara Costanzo’s little sisterpronounced in front of the crowd that filled the basilica of Santa Maria delle Grazie. A farewell that does not hide the anger and suffering: “I’m angry because a part of my heart is gone, my only true point of reference.” Before and after the ceremony, Chiara’s peers outlined the portrait of an extraordinary girl. She is remembered as intelligent, with a contagious curiosity about the world. “She was full of life and loved sport,” they say with teary eyes. A young woman who faced every challenge with energy, the same she put into studying, as written by her Italian teacher in her final farewell to a much loved student.
++ CHIARA’S FATHER, I WILL ASK MELONI THAT THERE ARE NO OMISSIONS ++
Monsignor Alberto Torrianiin the homily, he chose not to offer easy answers, but to give voice to everyone’s confusion. «Let’s not look for blame, not today»he began. In the speech he defined Chiara’s death as an event that “is not right for anyone”, neither for the city nor for the school community, where it becomes difficult even to make an appeal. He made an appeal to the children: “look for adults with words of truth, not empty models”, urging them not to stop desiring because life is greater than fear.
Among the pews of the Church there were not only friends and family. Many adults, even those who did not know Chiara, felt compelled to participate to show the closeness of the city in a dramatic and heartbreaking moment like the one experienced today. The thoughts of some of them are common to all of us: “You can’t die at 16, not like this.”
Monsignor Torriani addressed specific thoughts to Chiara’s brothers and parents, to help them find support in the pain they are experiencing. To his brother Luca: “your legs will shake but it’s not a sign of weakness, but that life is knocking.” To Elena: «There is a future for you, life wants you and stays there even when you can’t see it». To Camilla, the older sister: «You are a beacon and guardian». For parents, the invitation is to continue to be “passers of life”, remembering that the time with Chiara was not in vain.
While the coffin covered with white flowers left the Basilica amidst applause and tears, the words of Elena and all those who loved Chiara remained imprinted as a commitment for the future: travel, grow and live, also for Chiara.
