The tears don’t stop and the pain is great, unbearable. Around the coffin of eighteen-year-old Simone Gnoffo from Palermo, today (June 3rd), everyone is there: the parents who gave him life, the sister who grew up with him, the grandparents who at their age have known the darkness of despair. There are friends without smiles anymore and classmates who didn’t go to school today. They will now have to learn to live without Simone who has gone forever after that cursed motorcycle accident on Friday on Via Bonanno, towards Monte Pellegrino.
The church Maria Santissima Madre della Misericordia, in Via Liguria, is filled to the brim. There are many young people, students from Pareto Einaudi and not only from the class IV B that Simone attended. There are students from the Ernesto Basile high school, students of teacher Anna Cusimano, Simone’s mother. There are also students who have already finished high school but the memory of their beloved teacher is still strong and they want to be by her side.
In the front row, besides mother Anna, there are father Mimmo, sister Sofia, and the grandparents. There is Samuele Ferla, Simone’s best friend who was with him in the hospital in his final moments of life, before passing away. They embrace with his parents and cry looking at his photo above the coffin. In addition to the flowers, on the wooden casket there are also the helmet, a sweatshirt, and Simone’s motorcycle gloves that will fly with him somewhere else.
“Facing death, the only thing that seems natural to us is to cry and shout even against God but He does not want the death of sinners, let alone the death of children – says Father Giuseppe Bruno during the homily -. Simone will go to the cemetery. The word cemetery means dormitory, because Simone is waiting to be awakened. It is not possible for his body to remain in the grave because through him passed love, that of his parents, his friends, all of you who are here. Love is the only thing that is not said in words, it is done. It goes through kisses and hugs. Jesus says: “Whoever believes in me, even if he dies, lives.” Simone will have been happy to make this passage, having his best friend, Samuele, by his side. There are no words that can fill the void of a life that could have created a world, and I do not try either. Death is a passing accident that we will all have to face, and we must remember that our days are numbered.”
At the end of the mass, many people go up to the pulpit to speak to Simone for the last time. “Dear angel, you have left a void in all of us. We will pray for you and we will never forget you. Your teachers,” say teachers Alessandro Picone and Daniela Prestana. Riccardo speaks to Mimmo, Simone’s father: “You must not feel guilty for buying him the motorcycle. It was his greatest passion. It made him happy.” Simone’s body, as it exits the church, is welcomed with a big round of applause, the roar of the motorcyclists, his friends, and by many white and green balloons that rise into the sky to embrace the beautiful blond-haired boy that everyone will continue to love.
A Palermo l’addio a Simone Gnoffo, morto nell’incidente a Monte Pellegrino: «Non ci sono parole per riempire il vuoto di una vita»
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