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What the tomb of the unknown man tells us What the tomb of the unknown man tells us
(1 day later)
"There is always a benefactor looking after you.""There is always a benefactor looking after you."
This was the message inscribed on the tomb of the unknown man found dead on the train lines outside an Italian village in 1997. With nothing in his wallet but a comb and a picture of a saint there was apparently no way of identifying him other than that he was a young man with hair and faith. The fact that there were no other contents to his wallet surely points us to the assumption that he wished to die an anonymous death. The name of the man who had the headstone made was Ciro Fattore. The Italian for benefactor is benefattore, so, in an apparently post-religious world, at least the unidentified man has the beneficent Fattore looking over him, even if God is missing, presumed dead.This was the message inscribed on the tomb of the unknown man found dead on the train lines outside an Italian village in 1997. With nothing in his wallet but a comb and a picture of a saint there was apparently no way of identifying him other than that he was a young man with hair and faith. The fact that there were no other contents to his wallet surely points us to the assumption that he wished to die an anonymous death. The name of the man who had the headstone made was Ciro Fattore. The Italian for benefactor is benefattore, so, in an apparently post-religious world, at least the unidentified man has the beneficent Fattore looking over him, even if God is missing, presumed dead.
It has long been a truism that we do charitable works partly because of the way it reflects positively on us rather than just because of the positive effect it has on others. But maybe this story shows the truly positive Janus-headed nature of altruism, in that the probably unconscious self-description on the headstone reflects our need for both recognition of ourself as well as an understanding of the sufferings of others. And it is this two-way relationship between us and the other that adds up to what it means to be human. In recognising the other, we gain recognition back and thereby recognise ourselves as other to everyone else. It is the train journey syndrome. When you look out of the window as you speed through the countryside and you see people washing up in their kitchens or digging in their gardens or walking their dogs then you know that could be you and that there is no real reason that it is not.It has long been a truism that we do charitable works partly because of the way it reflects positively on us rather than just because of the positive effect it has on others. But maybe this story shows the truly positive Janus-headed nature of altruism, in that the probably unconscious self-description on the headstone reflects our need for both recognition of ourself as well as an understanding of the sufferings of others. And it is this two-way relationship between us and the other that adds up to what it means to be human. In recognising the other, we gain recognition back and thereby recognise ourselves as other to everyone else. It is the train journey syndrome. When you look out of the window as you speed through the countryside and you see people washing up in their kitchens or digging in their gardens or walking their dogs then you know that could be you and that there is no real reason that it is not.
But the other side of this also comes up in the story of the unknown man. Some in the village thought our nameless man must have been an immigrant or a vagrant and felt that, in death as in life, it was necessary to keep him at bay. In Greek mythology, Antigone's care for her dead brother, Oedipus, cast out to rot beyond the city walls by Creon, led her to go against the fear of the outsider to her own cost. Recognition of the other in the vagrant or the immigrant or the outcast brother is also therefore recognition of the other in oneself. "Je est un autre" – I is an other – was Rimbaud's take on this split in the human psyche, and we find Fattore's gesture of care moving precisely because we recognise that nameless other self in the nameless faceless other. But the other side of this also comes up in the story of the unknown man. Some in the village thought our nameless man must have been an immigrant or a vagrant and felt that, in death as in life, it was necessary to keep him at bay. In Greek mythology, Antigone's care for her dead brother, Polynices, cast out to rot beyond the city walls by Creon, led her to go against the fear of the outsider to her own cost. Recognition of the other in the vagrant or the immigrant or the outcast brother is also therefore recognition of the other in oneself. "Je est un autre" – I is an other – was Rimbaud's take on this split in the human psyche, and we find Fattore's gesture of care moving precisely because we recognise that nameless other self in the nameless faceless other.
When we say that we must love our neighbour like ourselves we actually mean, in the words of Slavoj Žižek, that we must fear our neighbour like we fear ourselves. It is the man's very anonymity that makes this gesture work and makes it universal. The very worst thing would be to find out who he is, what he had done with his life, what had taken him down to the train tracks in the first place, why he died with only a comb and a medallion about him. The great thing about this story therefore is that by finding a place in the cemetery for the unknown outsider we are not only confronting his reality but filling a blank space with what we would like him to be; namely an idealised version of ourselves.When we say that we must love our neighbour like ourselves we actually mean, in the words of Slavoj Žižek, that we must fear our neighbour like we fear ourselves. It is the man's very anonymity that makes this gesture work and makes it universal. The very worst thing would be to find out who he is, what he had done with his life, what had taken him down to the train tracks in the first place, why he died with only a comb and a medallion about him. The great thing about this story therefore is that by finding a place in the cemetery for the unknown outsider we are not only confronting his reality but filling a blank space with what we would like him to be; namely an idealised version of ourselves.
We project on to him not only our sadness at his fate, but the recognition that death is our inescapable fate too and that we all die alone. Of course this is essentially all that religious faith is; namely, keeping fresh flowers and a lighted candle in a niche which we know is waiting for us somewhere in the darkness. All the rest is kitsch and frippery.We project on to him not only our sadness at his fate, but the recognition that death is our inescapable fate too and that we all die alone. Of course this is essentially all that religious faith is; namely, keeping fresh flowers and a lighted candle in a niche which we know is waiting for us somewhere in the darkness. All the rest is kitsch and frippery.
• This article was commissioned after a suggestion by PoorButNotAChav. If there's a subject you'd like to see covered on Comment is free, please visit our You Tell Us page • This article was commissioned after a suggestion by PoorButNotAChav. It was amended on 19 September 2012. An error in editing led to Oedipus being named as Antigone's brother. This has now been corrected.