In the church of San Domenico in Palermo, next to Giovanni Falcone’s grave, I found a note: [1]“Dear Giovanni, I will write in English, because my Italian is not so good. However, I want to thank you for inspiring me to study law. I have been very fascinated by your story and admire your courage and your drive to fight for what is right. You are a hero for your people but also for people abroad, like me. Thank you for being a great human being. Jessenia”.
Falcone’s legacy has many faces: the “sense of the State”, the commitment to “international cooperation”, the maxi-trial of the mafia as a historical “result”: the declaration of the mafia as a criminal phenomenon, etc. But this note points to an ontological legacy, to another legacy. That there was something about the quality of the kind of human being that he was, that we can incorporate for ourselves.
This, his greatest legacy, is enclosed in one sentence. Falcone identified with it so much that he never parted with it, so much so that he always carried it with him, in his wallet: “A man does what he must – in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality. J.F. Kennedy.” To grasp the “proprium” of Falcone’s ontological legacy, it is necessary to penetrate this sentence. It answers the question “what does it mean to be a man?”. Answer: to be – fully – a man, for Falcone, is to go all the way with one’s duty. The two things are related: a man is defined, distinct, on the basis of this determining character.
Here is the unitary thread to read the sentence, which then unfolds in three faces, which correspond to the three basic dimensions that characterize the analysis of existence: man’s relationship with the world (Umwelt), with other men (Mitwelt) and with himself (Eigenwelt). Three portraits of “duty”, three faces of his message, about what it means to be human. They refer to a choice about what kind of man to be:
a) First, this duty concerns an intimate relationship with the historical world. The difference between Alexander Supertramp and Giovanni Falcone is precisely this: the former is authentic beyond the world, the latter in the world. Only in the world, in the relationship with it and with history, is the value of men and works given (tested). His lesson is that a man does not withdraw from history, does not seek its fulfillment beyond it: “he does his part”.
b) The second aspect refers to that “sense of the State” which, internalized, is the source of a culture to prevent oppression and injustice. Sense of the state, as the need for rules of collective life, which come above those of the family, the clan, and corporate interests. This refers to the idea of a future that works for everyone. It is in this sense that the fight against the mafia is a transformation of the world, because the field of criminal law – said Falcone – concerns the world to be created, the “being”. His “duty” implied the “being” of a world in which oppression and injustice were not tolerable.
c) The third, ontological aspect of Falcone’s legacy (and that of the others) is implicit and radical: not so much having demonstrated that the mafia was beatable, but having demonstrated that it could be that (same) possibility beyond the consequences, obstacles, dangers and pressures. So Falcone (and Borsellino)’s ultimate lesson is about power: the strength of being. After their deaths, no one can say – except in bad faith – that something “could not have been” because of pressure, because they were beyond In this sense, Falcone and Borsellino are not “models”, but are – rather – a universal human experience, something (a choice) available to everyone. This, in my opinion, is the meaning of Borsellino’s last speech: “Falcone lives”. What lives is: this possibility, that being is above having.
In Kennedy’s phrase it says ” a man does what he must “. This is being, that is, what each one represents. And he continues “whatever the consequences”: this is the dimension of having, of survival, of non-being. Here there is a precise relationship: “being over having“. And finally, not only “this is the basis of all human morality”, but, the moment it comes to touch and move the other’s being – as Jessenia’s leaflet testifies – it becomes the basis of authentic leadership.
Mauro Ventola