In town and at school everyone calls him a hero. But he doesn’t feel like Superman and replies. “Hero? He IS too much. I did what any other person would have done if he were in my place.” Raffaele Paolucci, 14 years old, Umbrian from Panicale, a small village overlooking Lake Trasimeno, saved the life of an elderly man who was in danger of being burned in the flames of a bonfire, lit as is used in the countryside throughout Italy to burn brushwood that grow in fields and ditches. “I don’t think I did anything exceptional. I just used a bit of common sense – says the student, who attends the eighth grade of the Panicale-Piegaro-Paciano district and is already mayor of the Municipal Council of Children –. We all have potential to be realized with simple gestures”.
Yes, simple gestures that should not be underestimated though. Because they tell of the positive energy of the best youth, of altruism and commitment to serving others. But here’s how it went. The facts date back to last Friday. The young man walks with his friend Filippo along a secondary road. At a certain point the two spot high flames and black smoke near a house overlooking a field. “We stop to look – reports Raffaele –: we hear faint moans and, curious, we approach the fence that divides the property from the field. We meet a man, according to whom whoever had lit the fire then prudently moved away. Not convinced, I’m I went to check for myself. I climbed over the fence and saw that in the midst of the flames there was a person in serious difficulty.” Raffaele, with cold blood, collects fresh grass to try to suffocate the fire that was already enveloping the man’s legs. “I grabbed my cell phone and called for help: 112 put me in contact with the ambulance and the fire brigade.” The young man thus managed to guide the rescuers towards the accident site, where a helicopter also landed. The injured man was thus taken to the Silvestrini hospital in Perugia, but after an initial hospitalization it was necessary to be transferred to the Cardarelli hospital in Naples due to the severity of the burns. This is the news, followed by handshakes and compliments from friends and companions. Principal Aurelia Brita also gives Raffaele an affectionate collective hug. “Thank you for your example of a good citizen”, is the unanimous thought of the school. Mother Eleonora is moved. “I am moved by the embrace of the town – says Mrs. Testa – (Raffaele’s father passed away after a long illness, ed.). I am proud of my son. But now our family’s thoughts go above all to that poor man who suffers in a hospital bed.”
Silvia Angelici
