KOREA: 16
January 2012 -- "… They are open; they are the holy land for every FMA, where each of us is called to encounter
God.
For me, having confidence in young people also means believing in the efficacy of Don Bosco the educator and his spirituality, professing the goodness of God who created the human being.
Young people have taught me many things, and sharing life with them has shown me the importance of practising the Preventive System.
The new generations need reasons to live, they need educators and teachers who are real, authentic.
I had some interesting experiences in summer camps where I was able to meet up with teenagers, some of whom were non-believers but wanted to be part of the proposed initiatives for young Catholics to deepen their faith. Young people enjoy being with their friends, even if sometimes they are not fully aware of our proposals. It happened, therefore, that those boys who just wanted to have fun, came camping with us.
It is clear that any implementation of a formative proposal is difficult in these cases.
Several times I had to talk with them and design a real 'contract' in order to move forward and carry out the program of studying
the faith. Often, by clarifying the experience that I was offering, I had to ask some youngsters who were non-believers or not correctly motivated, to return home. Conversation, calmly, lovingly explained reasons...I must say that this almost always produced a decision to remain and to try to submit to the rules of the formative experience in a number of the uncertain and apparently resistant participants.
I also found myself faced with young non-believers who, after having committed themselves and followed the program for a
whole day, told me clearly, late at
night that the proposals were not
according to their expectations and not at all interesting. Challenged then to show the reasons for Christian faith and
hope, with my only weapons being dialogue and patience, I offered them new reasons to reflect and stay. As they said goodbye at the end of the camp, the young non- believers or those who had not been correctly motivated, told me that they had a different, more practical idea of the Christian vision of life, and at other times they showed their content at having faced the struggle of an experience that was far different from what they had experienced up till then. These are testimonies that undoubtedly instill courage and trust in the capacity of young people to accept proposals that are far from their normal experiences and ways of thinking.
I believe in young people because …
…. They know how to recognize the value of people who love them in a gratuitous way... In my educational work I have experienced that the young people of these, our times of “media connections” are insecure and always seeking approval. In Korea, schools send their own students to our educational centers so that they may be able to take part in personality formation programs. The boys and girls who arrive are usually very difficult, disoriented, indeed shattered, andare therefore used to feeling that they are out of place and are only scolded. They then retaliate with deviant behaviour.
I frequently find myself faced with extreme situations: young people who try to get out of formative situations by drinking on the side to get sick so they are unwell and have to stay in bed. In these cases it is loving kindness that wins them over. The Sisters do not scold them, do not react strictly, but give them suitable nourishment, and then by their closeness to them have them understand that in this environment adults are not enemies, but friends. The effect of kindness as a system is one of committed and conscious participation. Certainly, at times the challenges and provocations I would say are terrible...However, if we succeed in being strong in patience and kindness, loving kindness wins them over by using the weapons of persuasion and reason.
I believe in young people because ….
…. They are capable of God, of allowing themselves to question the lifestyle of Christians and of us as Christian educators. In recent years I have become convinced of the importance of the explicit proclamation of the Christian faith and I have experienced that confidence in young people is in proportion to my confidence in God's work. If I have encountered God in my daily life, I am able to see His presence working in young people, and it becomes natural that I have confidence in them! Young people today, especially the poorest of them, are the greatest treasure God entrusts to us. They are a theological place, the holy land where He speaks to us, inviting us to conversion to live the charism of prevention as a renewed covenant with Him and with all people who share responsibility for the educational mission. Like it is in a family, young people offer their original and creative contribution, according to age and level of maturity, becoming protagonists in their own growth and in that of the entire educating community.
