Our Beautiful Son, Gianni Manganelli

[This is just a CC version of the English open subtitles, towards possible translations. If you do translate them, please skip this first one]

[Gianni Thomas Manganelli 2/8/1991 - 3/30/2014]

The grief is overwhelming for our family. For our friends. For those

who have watched our beautiful boy, Gianni Manganelli, grow up.

The grief is overwhelming too for the Deaf Community, the

Academic Community and the Filmmaking Community,

the film industry community.

Why is it that we grieve so much for him?

We grieve for his gentle soul, his brilliance. Not only the

the brilliance of his intellect, but the exquisite luminous brilliance

of his heart as well as his precious sweetness.

People are fixated on wanting to know "how" his life ended.

But really, the manner of his passing is insignificant.

What truly matters is what led up to - and what comes after -

The moment at which it happened, when Gianni's life ended,

it was by means of self-infliction.

Why? So he could finally put an end to the

torment that he had been suffering and had struggled with,

and had believed he could somehow manage on his own.

This confounded people.
Growing up, he had been an

extraordinary, beautiful, healthy boy.

He displayed the very essence of his core being, his nature.

But then the darkness that would descend upon him began to

emerge, and eventually overshadowed who he was, his true

nature. Precisely, what this darkness was, we still don't know.

But, who Gianny truly was slowly became occluded by

this psychological, mental and emotional infightings, darkness.

The challenges of battling darkness became a cycle of normalcy

health and well being offset by periods of mental health concerns.

At first, the periods of concern were minimal and brief in contrast

But eventually, the balance shifted and the periods of

darkness became more and more prevalent, while the periods of

periods of normalcy and well being diminished.

Some of you who knew my son only within the academic world

assumed that how he was during that time of acute darkness was

an accurate reflection of who he was. But that was not normal for him.

It was confusing for some people. Those who knew him at this

healthiest and saw him at his peak were shocked and dismayed

and heatbroken by the change in him. Others who only knew

him in the recent past assumed he was just odd - "That's him" -

and never saw who he really was.

Many things were overlooked.

So many factors contributed to and culminated in and ultimately

caused him to decide he'd had enough.

He just wanted this incessant torment to stop.

He didn't want to succumb to the darkness that haunted him.

He didn't want it to hijack his life.

To end his life? No, he didn't mean to.

In truth, Gianni, our son loved life. He loved his sister.

He loved his family. He loved everything about life -

He loved the world, the animals, nature.

He cherished and adored all of life.

But by him putting an end to the relentless torment, it was

ultimately that very darkness that took his life from him.

With that understanding,

what do we do now?

We all must understand that we must change. We must look

close at ourselves and ask ourselves, what can I do?

What can we do? How can we as community take accountability

for this. What would comunity accountability mean?

What would it look like? What would it be?

My son Gianni would want all of you first to remember him as

he was when he was at his healthiest. And to recognize that

mental health issues vary enormously

from relatively minor to extremely severe.

How, then, can we come from a place of heart-centeredness

and compassion to be more aware,

to care deeply, and to provide support?

You may know that currently available mental health services

for the deaf community are significantly lacking and insufficient.

So we have a tremendous amount of work to do.

And we cannot do it by ourselves but now that if we all come

together to accomplish this - in Gianni's honor - he would be

beaming his usual big smile and will triumphantly know his

death had much greater worth and was not in vain.

Is this what I would have liked? What our family would have liked?

Would we have willingly sacrificed for this?

No, it is not what we would have liked. But... Okay...

I invite you to support our son's fund,

which is dedicated to raising awareness, focusing on

traning and on providing services to individuals who are

struggling with psychological and mental health issues, so that

no one else ever has to go through what my son went through

Thank you.

[RememberingGio.wordpress.com]