SUMMARY: A moving recollection by Segio D'Elia of his life and relationship with Maria Teresa Di Lascia, from the moment he met her and entrusted himself to her "totally", so that he could "do the right things better". Working with her on the campaign to abolish the death penalty was for him an opportunity to "redeem" himself. Maria Teresa was "perhaps, the best expression" of the way members of the radical party engage in politics, and she was able to interpret Marco Pannella, like only a few people are capable of doing, in a transparent way, like children can. Her integrity was complete, her "bad temperament" was a deep part of herself and she always warned that "A person's temperament represents his/her fate". It isn't then a coincidence that her novel narrates stories of temperaments.

(Corriere del Sud, September 20, 1994, in a special issue dedicated to the death of Maria Teresa Di Lascia)

The memory of Maria Teresa is so alive in me that now it is her life that prevails over my memory of her. Memory, will perhaps be tomorrow's task. Today, it is her "life" that gives me aid. These are not mere words. I know that she is no longer here, but know that her "being" is alive, and I am nurtured by this "being". Years ago, when, the time of hatred was over, I found the Radical Party and chose non violence so that I could do the right things better. My good fate handed me over to Maria Teresa. While other people did not understand, I entrusted myself totally to her, because soon she proved to be the guardian angel who watched over the best part of me, and accompanied me in all my good deeds. We had conceived and led together the campaign for the abolition of the death penalty throughout the world by the year 2000. For me it was also a chance to redeem myself, for Maria Teresa, it was just another just cause to serve. Now this cause will be more difficult to serve because we will be mis

sing her intelligent and creative contribution.

Maria Teresa was perhaps the best, most concrete and poetic expression of the radical way of perceiving the facts of life and politics. She was able to tell the story of Marco Pannella as only children are capable of seeing and understanding, a bit in the same way as Antoine De Saint Exupery in The Little Prince, the book Maria Teresa loved the best, the first gift she gave me. We measured the quality of our life together against the yardstick of some of the simple truths contained in that book. "To love someone means to be responsible for their life", was written in the book, and Maria Teresa felt this for me, and cared for me in a way, that I, perhaps, did not know how to reciprocate.

Maria Teresa cultivated the concrete imagination, intelligence of feeling, complete integrity of a child. She related to children as peers, considering them capable of rising to the adult in them.

Many have made mistakes, and continue to do so, about her 'bad temperament". She would often say "A person's temperament represents his/her fate". Maria Tersa wrote a great novel about this. It is a story of men and women who bear the signs of their destiny in their temperament. MariaTeresa was capable of understanding a person's temperament in such depth that she read the signs and gain an immediate understanding of their thinking and action . This is why she wrote, understood and lived with great ease.

She lived of her "bad temperament" and at the end of her way of being (alive), she died. Few understood her, and for this reason many now do not understand her death. She would say; "You can't deny anyone a quarrel". It was a precious gift she offered--there was no maliciousness on her part, it was a sign that she held you in great consideration. Her being aggressive was oftentimes mistaken as being violent and intollerant , but it was, instead, a form of intelligence. It had nothing to do with authority, it had to do with truth. Her being demanding of everybody had nothing to do with her own needs, it was always for the benefit of the other, for his/her growth, and thus, for the quality of their relationship.. But, perhaps, this way of being was absolute, it was not for herself or for others. It was a condition of the spirit that Maria Teresa cultivated with great care.

Possessions, ownership oppressed her, fullness asphyxiated her. in May, after we got married, and our house was full of gifts, of things, Maria Teresa felt all their weight on her, couldn't suffer them. She started getting back aches, having trouble breathing. A few days ago, among her papers, I found a white sheet of paper with a short sentence written on it: "I believe in what I do not have. If that were not the case I would growing, being". Maria teresa stopped growing, being at the age forty, at the end of her whole life.

Lately Maria Teresa would say: I am tired, I have no more desires, I have no plans, and she was full of sorrow that the world's tragedies were too big to bear-- children in Ruanda, the former Yugoslavia. Her non-indifference, her non-resignation which knew no truce, her "minding other people's business", her being always on call, began to wane.

Finally, many people said that Maria Teresa had changed! She had become good and kind! They didn't realize they were praising the disease that was consuming her, they were praising life leaving her.