The sound of the basketball does not stop at the pitch in Via Dezza. Rolling it is Prince, 8 years old and passionate about basketball. He’s here with his dad, Marlon, for a lesson worth more than a thousand workouts. «My son immediately understood the situation – says the father – and it was he who decided to come here today. He wanted to leave a sunflower for Alessandro and to make his mother understand that she is not alone.” Marlon and Prince are the face of a city that doesn’t fit. The insensitivity of those words written on the memorial triggered an emotional wave throughout the neighborhood: dozens of strangers took turns at the net of the pitch, carrying tickets and sunflowers, Alessandro’s symbolic flower.
One of the many thoughts in memory of Alessandro and support for his mother
But Milan’s response is not only symbolic, it is also tremendously practical. Simone Lunghi, of the “Angeli del Bello”, arrived on site with the pragmatic spirit of someone who takes care of the city. «Since we had already organized the ‘peace games’ here, we decided to launch a basketball tournament in memory of Ale» announces Lunghi, who has already informed the family. In addition to the tournament, Simone had a brilliant idea, which openly challenges the vandal who considers flowers to be rubbish. «We will look for a collaboration with local florists to have a basketball court literally full of flowers. And we, as Angels of Beauty, will do our part: we will collect the waste from the ground. So we will explain the difference between a field of flowers and a landfill, because the person who made this gesture evidently doesn’t understand the two differences well.”
But the initiatives in the pipeline do not end here, in fact «We would also like to organize a first responder demonstrationperhaps with an AED or cardiac massage, just to hope that perhaps, who knows, we will be able to save a life in a little while thanks to this course.” Finally, there is room for a final jab for the anonymous person, “I would also like to organize a grammar course, because subjunctives must be defended together with parks and squares.”
All the affection and closeness of the Milanese demonstrate how something beautiful is being born from a sad event, avoidable if we all had a little humanity: mutual support, closeness and desire to react. They wanted to erase a memory, they ended up making it indestructible.
