We love and care deeply for each other but due to irreconcilable differences we are getting divorced!!! The publicists of celebrity couples often reiterates this sentence to media, making a mockery of couples “love” and “deep care” for each other. Presently when relationships are breaking at slightest pretexts, I come across this story and still wondering what love is all about!
It is a story of plain injustice. FBI kept mum all the time in the court to protect its informant. This led to the conviction of four men for a murder they didn’t commit. Two of them died in jail and two are out of jail after spending 30 precious years of their lives behind the bars! One of them is Joseph Salvati who is 75 years old now. His lawyer fought his case for three decades without charging a penny and grew old with his client.
When I read this story what hit me hard is this fellow has something which the coolest, richest, sexiest hunks surviving in this world can’t have; the love, affection and care of Marie Salvati, his wife of 53 years! Was Jeseph a catch? Read for yourself:
A high school graduate with no trade skills, Joseph Salvati put in ten-hour days, six days a week, working three jobs to support his family. “It was casual labour,” he says. “You got what you could. I’d run down to the pier and help unload the fish. Lumpin’, it was called. It was dog’s work. But you could make US$60 a week. I unloaded trucks in the meat market. I worked as a doorman. The hours were late, but US$40 in tips was US$40.”
For the past 30 years Joseph was in the prison when Marie Salvati unflinchingly took care of their four children. She had faced many hardships. She couldn’t go for a full time job because her children were small. Marie recalled that she barely managed to put food on the table earlier. She had joined a charity organization at a lower rank and later on rose to the position of Director. She along with her children never failed to pay a weekly visit on Saturday to Joseph. And Joseph? He never failed to send a weekly greeting card to his family which he purchased from his 15-cents-a-day prison wages. Each card was placed on the top of the television until the next arrived. Marie stored her precious collection in shoe boxes, tied with red ribbon. What a way to keep your romance alive! And what a way to keep in touch with children!
Did they think of separating or divorcing each other during those times? Yes! Joseph once suggested Marie to divorce him and “move ahead” in life. He promised that he would not contest it. What his wife said was not something flowery and romantic but simple, plain truth. “Are you crazy?” Marie responded. “I took a vow for better or worse. We love each other.”
The court has awarded him $ 29 million in compensation. Salvati, now 75, knows he may not live long enough to see a penny of the award. But today Joseph is a free man. He is spending time with his wife, children, grandchildren and great grandchildren. He loves the feeling that he can walk anywhere he wants.