SUM LOMBARDO – «Be the best». The mayor of Somma Lombardo Stefano Bellaria borrows one of the most profound speeches of Martin Luther King to address the traditional greeting to eighteen year oldsprotagonists this morning of the celebrations of Republic Day go back to the origins in the courtyard of Palazzo Viani Visconti.
The mayor’s speech
Those born in 2006 received from members of the municipal administration a copy of the Constitution, the Italian flag and an art graphic. They were present at the ceremony the civil and military authorities, the representatives of local associations, political representatives of the majority and opposition as well as, naturally, the inevitable “La Cittadina” band for musical accompaniment.
Below is an excerpt from the speech mayor Stefano Bellaria:
Today we celebrate, TOGETHER, the 78th birthday of Our Italian Republic, but also your party. Somma Lombardo’s eighteen year old party.
The City comes together, excited and happy, to share your civic baptism.
And finally, after five years, we find ourselves here in the courtyard of Palazzo Viani Visconti, our Town Hall.
Of course we are a little cramped, but how nice to have relocated our young people in the heart of the city!
It is a special moment: you acquire the active and passive electorate and you can contribute with your vote or with your availability to determining political and administrative choices at all levels and in a few days some of you will be able to do so by voting in the European elections .
It is a great gift and an important responsibility. You have new tools at your disposal, to combine with your skills, to improve the society in which you live.
(…)
In other words it means that we have the task of following our passions, transforming them into activities and putting them at the service of the community in which we live, so as to make it better.
Furthermore, dear girls and boys, you too have the right and duty to take adequate space within society and to shape it according to your needs.
And you start doing it with small steps, “making the bed not only in your home, but also in the associations you frequent, in the neighborhood and in the city you live in and gradually higher and higher.
“Be the best of whatever you are” as Martin Luther King said… It’s quite a task to do, don’t you think?
Do it and you will make your life and that of those around you “Tasty”.
