MY REFLECTIONS
ON MICHELE BRAVI’S INTERVIEW
Last
Saturday I saw a very touching interview with singer Michele Bravi on TV, which was the first
interview he released after his involvement in a road accident where a woman died, a tough, traumatic experience for him. One that radically changed his life. In the interview Michele told
about this dark period, and I was struck by his answers, his reflections and
above all the way he expressed them. It brought me to some
reflections I want to share with you all.
First of
all, I was struck by his fragility. I found he is deeply hurt, broken-hearted
and sensitive, without being weak; I found him deeply human, but at the same
time, alien and I did not find in his words a common human beings’ feature: the
tendency to hide our own fragility. I think few accept to reveal their inner
selves in this kind of intimate but public interviews, because of our inhibitors, because we are
ashamed of our fragilities, because the society asks us to be perfect… but it
did not matter to him! He spoke with great difficulty for all the time of
interview, but not because of he was insecure, intimated or ashamed of his
offense (he’s accused of manslaughter); he said he has been living as a “stranger
for all the world”, he “couldn’t speak with the others or hear from the others for a long time”, and now he
can, it’s difficult to express his thoughts, he explained. He explained it with great difficulty but he
chose his words perfectly using emotional metaphors rather than concrete
examples. In my opinion, this way of expressing oneself is very introspective, aiming
at confiding rather than at explaining our point of view to the others, but just
for that, he conveyed his message perfectly.
I have been
thinking about it over and over again, and I concluded that only with honest
and sheer words we can really express our ideas. Only if we get over our
inhibitions and the obstacles put on by the society and all the above, we can
be understood by everyone.
A CHANGE OF PRIORITIES
The last
question asked by the interviewer was “what do you expect from the trial?"
(It will be next week). He answered with a thought about the serenity of all the
people involved in this tragic story (himself, his family, but also the family of
the victim of the road accident), he did not talk about the possibility of
ending up incriminated and sentenced, which might have been what everyone expected from him.
Therefore,
I started thinking about the change of priorities which a traumatic experience
can bring about, or, in general, the loss of something we had always taken for
granted, such as our freedom and serenity, as in Michele's case. So I started thinking about how a sudden change in our lives may
lead us all to a change of priorities.
In the book
“If this is a Man” by Primo Levi, the author tells about his highly tragic
experience in the concentration camp of Auschwitz. Obviously, we cannot compare
the two situations, and I do not dare. I just want to focus on the concept of sudden change, from a
successful life, from a free life, to the loss of it all.
You who
live safe
In your warm houses,
You who find,
returning in the evening,
Hot food and
friendly faces:
Consider if this is
a man
Who works in the mud
Who does not know
peace
Who fights for a
scrap of bread
Who dies because of
a yes or a no.
Consider if this is
a woman,
Without hair and
without name
With no more
strength to remember,
Her eyes empty and
her womb cold
Like a frog in
winter.
Meditate that this
came about:
I commend these
words to you.
Carve them in your
hearts
At home, in the
street,
Going to bed,
rising;
Repeat them to your
children,
Or may your house
fall apart,
May illness impede
you,
May your children
turn their faces from you.
THE
IMPORTANCE OF THE PSYCHOLOGICAL HELP
During the
interview, Michele Bravi told about the importance of psychological therapy to
get over a traumatic experience. He said he couldn’t get over that dark period
without the help of a psychologist, because even though he has had all his family and all his friends,
they couldn’t communicate with him, so he had to go to a psychologist to get over all that pain, to try
to restart his life.
I often see
people who are reluctant to go to a psychologist, because of some prejudices
about them, for example the use of medicines (they confuse a psychologist with a
psychiatrist), or they think it is for weak people. Instead, I think it is not
only a crucial decision, but also an act of self-consciousness.
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