Rising Above: the Ordine al Merito
TORONTO – We live in a remarkable era where secularism and indifference are conflated to mask a sense of contribution towards an ethical set of goals that define value as a society. New religions (sets of obligations, real or implied) have a difficult time breaking down those walls that make our environment attractive and livable.
So, as people before us, we look to examples of those whose experience shines as a beacon for guidance and we elevate their “model” as a role for others to respect and even “venerate”. At the risk of coming across as religious – I fear I am not – we search out lessons which illustrate “investment in values”, acknowledgement of the “larger picture” and what we think needs to be done to replenish the pool from which we profit. We treasure those gifted in the art of “giving back”.
Donato Montesano of Lido Construction is such a model, almost to a fault. His history is not one steeped in the benefits accruing from the inheritance bestowed by his predecessors, unless we include the drive to overcome, to succeed and to share. It is rather one manifesting itself in his contributions to the dozens of projects around the city and the country that bear the names of others. From religious events (World Youth Day), in person Papal encounters, support for foreign political leaders, local politicians, hospital foundations, law enforcement agencies, Labour organizations, engagements with communities under duress, there is barely a one where he has not been front and center.
The Corriere Canadese would not be here had he not taken an interest, thirteen years ago when the original masthead collapsed. He, and Madeleine Brazeau, his wife of blessed memory, have been friends with my family through thick and thin since 1981.
The National Congress of Italian-Canadians’ event at the Bellevue Manor would not be complete if we did not recognize the soon to be installed President of Toronto Metropolitan University, Roberta Iannacito-Provenzano, about whom we will have much to say in a subsequent edition. Ditto for Emily Fusco and Domenico Meleca some young people with a history all their own.
What made the bestowing of the honorific all the more significant was the presence of the Counsel General Andrea Bertozzi and his wife Kristina Zubayulaeva. They all deserve the warmest of congratulations.
Here below is a photogallery from the event (photos: Corriere Canadese)
