Explaining an oath is always difficult, because feelings are always difficult to explain. For several years, I have been following the oath of the students of the first course at the Morosini in Venice, directly or indirectly. And as always I appreciate the preparatory activities, the impeccable ceremonial and the excellent work done by the officers and the Assomorosini.
Traditionally, students create their banner. This year the students of the first course recognize themselves in the name of Αιθήρ, Aithḗr (ancient Greek), etere in the Italian translation. It is a primigenial divinity of the Greek religion and mythology that depicts not only the superior air, reserved for the breath only by the Gods, but also the power of the purest sky and the brightness of the day.
Ether is referred to as the son of Erebus (Ερεβος, the Dark) and Nyx (Nύξ, the Night) and brother of Emera (Ἠμἐρα, the Day). The choice of this divinity thus guarantees the connection with the third course and with the God Helios, as Ether represents the inaccessible area of the sky, where the gods lived and where the light was enclosed, and also because he married his sister Emera with whom he generated his daughter Talassa, whose paternity, according to some mythographers, is attributable to Helios. So the banner of green color depicts, in the middle, the Deity Ether with wings spread. The harmonious wings are composed of the same number of feathers of the students present in the course. The God does not wear the armor in homage to the "purity" that he embodies, his belt is garnished with a lion's head, both a symbol of the values of courage and perseverance, and in memory of the victory of Ether in the fight with the beast. Behind a powerful source of light, reinforces the characteristics of sacredness and purity of Divinity.
Of course, the motto could not be lacking: "impossibilia somniare, incogitata pervenire" (to dream of the impossible, to reach the unthinkable).
But, Wednesday, the thing that most impressed many guests present and the students was the speech of the President of the Association Naval Military School Francesco Morosini, Dr. Francesco Businaro. The former Morosinian explained, with words appropriate to young people, the high meaning of the oath.
Difesa Online offers its readers the chance to be in average res in the ceremony with the crucial explanation ...
Admiral, commander, civil and military authorities, guest lords, parents, pupils ... pivoli, as a tradition it is up to me, the representative of the students who preceded you, to say the first words to explain what you are about to do today.
I will do it as always, with the sincerity learned in this place, with the frankness of the Sailor.
In your adult life, in your future, many days will leave an indelible mark in your memories. Today it is undoubtedly one of those.
Today, the day of your Oath, if you know how to be worthy, it will be one of the moments of your life that you will remember with more emotion!
When, between 40 or 50 years, you will turn to look at your life, nostalgia will mix pride and you will realize that what you are doing here, now, will have determined your professional path, your dignity, your being Men and women of this extraordinary country.
I therefore urge you to live these moments with the awareness that you are doing something that will stay with you forever and that will guide you in the years to come.
Today, you entered that door like young teenagers wearing the same dress; you will come out as young adults who are part of the great and noble Navy family, and that uniform will take on a different value because it will be with you forever, tattooed in your soul.
You are about to swear before a multitude of people who represent that nation that today you will commit to honor, to defend the institutions, to follow the laws.
Are you aware of it?
Have you asked yourself if you are ready?
Are you clear about the implications this will entail?
I ask you because I know that at 15, 16 years, things can not be perceived in their full meaning, so I take the role of a thoughtful super old man to try to make clear what is going to happen, in case you have not analyzed the words of oath formula. Starting from the word itself: oath, from the Latin "iuramentum" or promise, vow, with which the Gods are invoked to witness the truth of what is affirmed, recalling upon himself the divine curse in the case where a lie has been pronounced. In a more current sense it is a solemn form of promise, which engages one's conscience in front of others, but above all in front of oneself.
A promise made on his own honor.
You've been here since last September and I know I've already asked you. I do it again now: how many times have you looked at that writing out there: "Homeland and Honor"?
Have you considered what it means to be honorable people?
Well, today you swear on your honor to be servants of the country, to be a probationary citizen, to be, ultimately, good people.
Because this is what people expect from someone wearing a uniform: to be a good person, selfless, correct, loyal, honest, courageous.
We all expect you to be an example, an encouragement to think that this country can still produce a clean youth, animated by good feelings, intact.
Today, what you put on your shoulders is a heavy burden and has no expiration: today you swear, many of you will perhaps do it again as military or civilian, but it will be nothing more than a repeat of the commitment you take today.
A reiterate, a reminder, with a different maturity perhaps, but it is today that you do it for the first time.
I want you to be aware of this, because today you are asked to be adults, you are asked to start thinking but, above all, to act as adults.
Today the era of "I want" ends, the era of "do" begins.
Your elders and your elders have already heard me mention this example, better, repetita juvant. Now I'll tell it to you.
Do you know the commander Salvatore Todaro? The evening of the 16 October of the '40 was in the Atlantic under the command of the submarine Cappellini.
He sees a merchant ship, the Kabalo, and sinks it. It's war, it's orders, but Todaro is above all a sailor.
Watch in silence the surviving crew of the sunken merchant crammed into a single boat; 26 men destined to go to a sure death.
He approaches, gives medical assistance and provides food and water.
He takes them in tow, the sea mounts, the raft sinks. Then he collects them on board, can no longer dive, remains exposed to air and surface attacks.
The nearest landing is in the Azores, at 750 miles, and there are the English guns.
Five at a time he disembarks them with the boat on board, saving them all.
The second commander of the Kabalo, who asks him what kind of a man he is for taking that risk, will answer: "I'm just a man of the sea".
He will not receive medals for this except for the gratitude of those men and their families.
A Portuguese woman will write to him: "Happy is the nation that has men like you".
This is the commitment you are taking today.
That of being Men and Women of whom the Nation can be proud, of which you yourselves may be proud of, of your conscience, of your honor,
Today you swear loyalty to the Fatherland, to its founding values, to the traditions of the Navy.
Today you are committed to making sacred the words that stand out there sanctioning your pursuing values that many mockery, but which this Italy desperately needs.
It is Italy to which you entrust your promise.
And Italy is us, it's the people that you meet on the street, the neighbors, the guy at the bar, the one who just pushed you to get on the water bus. Taxpayers, compatriots, including those you do not like.
I would like you to remember this day, I wish you were proud of it.
I wish you to continue your difficult journey with even greater enthusiasm, with the certainty that you wanted to do something truly extraordinary, exceptional, that none of your peers live. Something unforgettable, that will only appear to you.
And then I guarantee you that tomorrow, for how many beautiful and different things you have done in your life, your thoughts and your heart will continue to run to these walls, to your classmates, to your commanders. To that big white writing.
Like all the former you will realize that this place you never left it, that is where you have become Men and Women.
And if questioning you about your actions you will be able to answer, "I'm just a man of the sea" then it means that you have lived a good life, and that it was worthwhile to live it.
For you, and for those lucky enough to meet you.
Long live the Morosini, live the Marina, live Italy!
