SGI Members Testmonial - An Aqueduct Connects a Family by Mario Castorina Calì, Italy I work as an aqueduct manager in my home province of Catania in Sicily, Southern Italy. The business was founded by my great-grandfather, a prominent lawyer, in 1901, in partnership with the Duke of Misterbianco. In those peaceful and promising years they successfully built a 36-kilometer-long aqueduct delivering water for irrigation to over 1,000 hectares of citrus orchards on the most fertile slopes of Mt. Etna. In those years Sicily was the biggest citrus producer in the world, and Sicilian blood oranges were exported all over the world. The company was later handed over to my grandfather and then to my late father. Intent on a different path, I studied medicine and later became interested in the performing arts. I traveled extensively with a great hunger for life, people and personal growth. Besides managing the aqueduct, my father also managed the family business as a landowner of a large farm and fruit orchards he had inherited, but he was not a good manager of people, and was regularly betrayed by his employees. As a result, we eventually had to sell all the farms. In 1982, I was introduced to Buddhism. I started practicing and was immediately fascinated by the personality of SGI President Daisaku Ikeda and his explanations of life--wise and encouraging, while simple and not pretentious--as well as the teachings of Buddhism with an ancient wisdom that was also in accord with the most advanced visions of contemporary science. My hunger for wisdom and explanations was finally satisfied. Only about 10 people were practicing Buddhism in Sicily then. We felt like young pioneers with a burning dream, building a community of friends for world peace. Around 1984, the company business was declining: agriculture was suffering from the inability of Sicilian traders to compete on a world scale. My father had lost faith in its future and was surrounded by unsupportive employees. I used to say that I would never follow him into the family business. But Buddhism opened my eyes to reality: I realized that my father needed help. I had to fight to earn his trust. And the employees fought me, fearing for their positions: I discovered that they had even made an alliance with our strongest competitor. It was a very difficult situation and a fight of patience and optimism which lasted years. Now we provide irrigation water to over 500 customers, mostly citrus growers. Our company employs 13 people, and with many of our workers and customers there is a family relationship. In the nature of the business--serving agriculture--also lies the establishing of long-standing relations. I could never have developed such openness and flexibility, learning and growing every day amidst people of all kinds, without the encouragement I have received from Mr. Ikeda and others. One of the toughest challenges has been demands for pizzo (protection money) from local mafia bosses. With the help of a good friend in the police, my family decided to go all the way against them. It was a difficult choice--but I had to decide what kind of future I wanted for my country, even if this involved personal risks for myself and my family. In the end they all went to jail and we were protected. In Sicily now over 1,200 people regularly attend Buddhist meetings, and I am dedicated to SGI activities.I have just completed building a new water pipeline to serve a group of customers who decided to come to us because of the good service we provide. My daily practice provides me with energy and optimism, and I take constant encouragement from the writings of Nichiren: Regard your service to your lord as the practice of the Lotus Sutra. . . . No worldly affairs of life or work are ever contrary to the true reality. source via :sgiquarterly.org/people2008Jly-1.html
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 04:13:32 +0000
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