Met on several occasions in 2011, Margherita Hack reflects on her feelings towards motherhood. She confesses that she has never wanted children and doesn’t fell at ease with children, preferring the company of animals instead. In her brief testimony, Margherita Hack talks about her childhood and the figure of her mother, her relationship with her partner Aldo and her view on death and inheritance.

Vuoi ascoltare e leggere altre testimonianze? Sostieni l’archivio vivo di Lunàdigas!

Ecco la trascrizione completa del video:

MARGHERITA HACK: «Can you hear me well? 1,2,3,4,5… 6,7,8. Is it ok? Maybe you want to disconnect the phone? Please, can you keep quiet for 5 minute?
I always thought I did not want children. I’ve never felt this desire.
Nowadays, having children is becoming more of a guilt rather than selfishness, because this world is overpopulated. They say being selfish, but you have children if you really want them, if you feel this need to love your own child.
Maybe if I had come across a child not of my own who needed to be cared for, as it happens with stray dogs, I would have love him or her all the same, as if they were my own. But it never happened to me, I’ve never desired it. Children embarrass me a little, I feel more at ease with animals.
My mother was not so fond of children. There are some women who, as soon as they see a small child: “Sweetie, baby…” Well, my mother didn’t. She loved me deeply, but she didn’t feel a great enthusiasm towards children in general.
Now all four bells will ring. Three… and four.
As a little girl, I read a lot. And then I played with Meccano, which was the Lego of that time, even better than Lego because it was just like real mechanics. You really learned to… to use the tools, the hammers… to work, to build. I really liked that very much. Then the bike. I never wanted to play with dolls, I was never interested.
Neither me nor Aldo ever had a desire, nor vocation to be parents, maybe we are still children ourselves. How we played together in the public garden, when I was 11 and he was 13, we kept on playing as adults.
I really liked animals, we had quite a few dogs! But I had a cat, various cats really, but one in particular, who studied with me since the third… from middle school up to third year of university. Deep down an animal is like a child, a pet is. But to me, I feel more attracted to animals than to children, I feel better with animals, maybe I’m more of an animal myself.»
NICOLETTA NESLER: «What do you think about death?»
MARGHERITA HACK: «I think like the Epicureans until I am around, death isn’t, and when death comes, I won’t be around. So there’s no reason to be afraid of death.
A legacy can be left also to the students, I’ve had many students. Therefore… my way of thinking, we talked about it, we discussed it. After all, I did leave some kind of legacy, let’s say. But to be honest, I don’t give a damn about leaving a legacy.»

Vuoi ascoltare e leggere altre testimonianze? Sostieni l’archivio vivo di Lunàdigas!