This 84-year-old man traveled 37 miles (60 km) every day to drive a blind child to school
It is never too late, and one is never too old to help others.
The story we are about to tell you about, has as its protagonist of an energetic 84-year-old Italian man, from Consuma, a mountain village in the province of Arezzo, who fully demonstrates this adage.
Therefore, it is not just a manner of speaking or a figure of speech. Doing good to others means dedicating oneself with commitment, tenacity, and altruism, to those who have been less fortunate in life, doing good - at the same time - also to themselves.
And for Romano Carletti, these concepts are very clear and exemplary. Let's see why.
via Corriere.it
FederAnziani Senior Italia/YouTube
When Romano learned that Jaffer, a blind 6-year-old Macedonian son of a local carpenter, could not reach the regional school due to the lack of an assistance service on the bus specifically designed for disabled minors, he decided to take action.
The young boy's father, in fact, due to having to work all day, and was also deterred from taking his son to school because of the distance from their home, about 37 miles (60 km) round trip. The mother does not have a driver's license, and so little Jaffer found himself in a situation in which he risked not being able to get an education.
Romano, aware of all this, armed himself with goodwill and every morning, for months, he got up early to drive his car down into the valley where the school is located, taking his special little passenger with him and managing to get him to school in time for the first bell. The same journey was then repeated when Jaffer left school to be taken back home every day.
The really impressive thing is that the 84-year-old is neither a relative nor a friend of Jaffer and his family. He is just a neighbor who, moved by the story of the little disabled boy, turned into a sort of "adoptive grandfather".
A wonderful gesture, carried out for months, for which Romano, in a completely unexpected way, received the 'Grandfather of the Year' award, a well-deserved recognition, of which the elderly gentleman was very happy.
At the same time, however, he defined his gesture as a necessary and due act, carried out in the name of facilitating the equal rights of a disabled child to receive an education just like all the other children.
Meanwhile, the assistance service for blind children on the school bus has been activated, and Romano will probably miss little Jaffer and their rides to school, shared together every morning.
Certainly, however, nothing will erase the immense generosity of this elderly man, a true example of altruism towards someone in need of help that many, when given the opportunity, should try to follow.
