The ruota degli esposti, the revolving crib that graced the walls of hospitals centuries ago, where desperate women could leave their newborn infants, was used last night in Milan.
In the 21st century once again women are reduced to this.
The boy was well cared-for, dressed in a thin white shift and wrapped in a light cover. Beside him were three freshly laundered baby-grows and a feeding-bottle of mother's milk. He is a week old.
It would make Angels weep. It does.
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6 comments:
HG: Regrettably they have them here too - and they are being used more and more often judging by Press reports. They call them "baby bins" and many hospitals have them in discreet areas where they can be unobtrusively utilised.
The problem appears to be young women or couples, not usually misbehaving, but more getting themselves drowned in debt (credit is so easily available and locals are not really educated in how to manage their finances properly) and unable to cope with loan repayments for house/flat, car, school fees, latest electronic gizmos etc - all of which leave nothing over by middle of the month. Bankruptcies are running into three figures every month and so, quite simply, the baby has to go. Happily there is an organisation on the other side of the windows which can take care of these not-necessarily unwanted kids. All very sad.
The more you think about it the worse it gets, Nomad, (wipes eyes on hem of dress again, been doing that all morning going about the house).
It's not only economic conditions, it's culture too. The way women are regarded and treated by male-dominated societies and, God help us, the way we have been inducted into treating ourselves.
"It would make Angels weep."
And Yachtsmen also.
But what do we make of this:
"unable to cope with loan repayments for house/flat, car, school fees, latest electronic gizmos etc ... so, quite simply, the baby has to go."
Is there not something unbelievably wrong with the priorities here?
There's one in Milan, one in Bologna and, of course, one in Florence (an updated version at the Innocenti, although the cinquecentesco wheel is still there, under the arches). This is the first time any of them have ever been used (since the 1600s, that is).
(of course that's not to say nobody's abandoned their babbas since the 1600s, but this is the first time the historical wheels have been used)
I don't know where to start on the infinite sadness of all this,Yacht and Musician. The ruota encapsulates it all.
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