The top five articles of the week, written by our talented writers and journalists of the future. You will read about mistakes, Sid Vicious, the fatal angiodysplasia, the Italian pension system and the terrible and private Indian justice.
“Praise to the mistakes” by Deborah Biasco
“We taught her to be afraid of failures. That fear is something that destroyed her love for knowledge”.
These are a teacher’s words trying to explain why a student should start to feel bored and afraid of school.
Since this girl was a child, she was brought up with a huge amount of pressure on her back, a pressure caused by her parents, her teachers and everyone who had a role in her education.
She was nudged to reach achievements, good marks and to pass every exam she took, without considering the possibility to fail.
A society entirely focused on results and facts, a society that doesn’t even consider what is behind the achievement you get, has the power to turn down every curiosity, every will of success.
The fear of failure is caused by the constant quest of perfection we deal with since we were children, a quest which could lead us to both perfection and frustration.
A perfection that does not allow mistakes.
Numbers and figures are used to replace feelings and emotions: a mistake should not be done because it’s a sign of mediocrity, fragility and incompetence.
We should not afford to choose a way, which was not previously suggested or already studied; we should not take any sort of risk.
Isn’t all this the opposite of the meaning of life?
Doesn’t life mean living, experimenting, feeling the adrenaline of risk? Isn’t all this an important part of being alive?
Mistakes have important roles in the growing up, a fundamental part.
That’s why our Deborah Biasco, sensitive writer and extraordinary teacher has decided to praise the error, the possibility to fail and those ones who, despite the pressure of the entire society on their backs, have still the courage to try and to fail.
The angiodysplasia: history of a soldier, by Maria Giovanna Campagna
The angiodysplasia is a vascular genetic defect that could grow in every part of the human body: that is why every patient affected by this disease is different from the others. Unfortunately, only some kinds of these genetic defects are identified as “rare”. For this reason, the government does not aid those who suffer from the angiodysplasia but that show different symptoms.
Little effort to discover the causes and the possible cure for this defect has been made since now: the only solution to save people from their congenital disease is surgery. Scientist has discovered that the main cause is the fact that during early embryonic development, the circulatory system grows by chance, creating longer or shorter blood vessels.
Samuele, a young boy affected by angiodysplasia, had 30 or more surgical operation before his death.
Despite all this, he fought against his disease being positive and smiling until the end.
The curse of being Sid Vicious, by Matteo Ferrazoli
Simon Ritchie, also known as Sid Vicious, was born in London on May 10, in 1957. This date gave birth to the most auto- destructive artist of all time, the real essence of the punk itself.
He joined the Sex Pistols because of his friendship with John Lydon, the band’s founder that he met while they both attended the Hackney Technical College.
He played live for the first time with the Sex Pistols on the 21st March 1977, a date that could be remembered as the best day in Sid’s life.
He lived his entire life between a constant interior rebellion, a deep self- hate and a sense of anxiety cured by Nancy Spungen, a woman that changed the fragile life of the musician.
They met in 1977 and their love story was something to talk about. People said that they were fatal for each other, that one could be the end for the other: despite this, when Nancy died in 1978, Sid declared that he wanted to be buried close to his love, after his death.
Sid Vicious died in 1979, after several suicide attempts. His heart stopped beating on the 1st February because of an overdose.
The Dalit who lost his limbs for having protested against his daughter’s gang rape, by Andrea Umbrello
Bant Singh only wanted to defend his daughter, even if they both belonged to the Dalit’s caste.
The caste system is very ancient and it is an important part of India’s culture and tradition.
Men and women are divided into five different caste, each one representing a different social status.
“Dalits” is the lower caste, for those who have menial jobs and which are also known as “untouchable”.
Bant’s daughter was raped the 6th July 2002. For several years, he tried to find those who had committed such a terrible crime. That is why, he was punished by people belonging to higher social classes who cut both his arms and one of his legs.
The boys who raped his daughter, were sentenced to life in prison.
Bunt’s life, even if he found justice, is now even more miserable because of a 3000 years old system that cannot work anymore.
An orange envelope is coming, is it the pension? By Carlo Mocera
How does the Italian system for pensions work?
It is very easy: every worker gives to the State part of his salary which is collected and distribute to those who are on retirement. Future workers, will do the same for their older colleagues.
This system sounds easy, but why it seems not to work?
Because of the legislation which always changes the terms of the payments.
We are stealing something to those who will be on retirement after us. An intergenerational theft.
Silvia Noli