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 published: 2006-01-24

Hand on the pulse of time

Juvenile violence and the challenge for education

Algun día... llamaremos hermano a cada hombre y será entonces que los hombres serán una familia...

One day... we will call brother and sister each person, and mankind will be a family…

Eines Tages… sagen wir Bruder zu jedem Menschen und dann wird die Menschheit eine Familie…

 

Juventud educada por la gran educadora

Youth, educated by the great educator...

Jugend in der Schule der großen Erzieherin

Fotos: Ríos © 2006

 

 

 

ROME. Father Alberto Eronti. The Founding Father taught the Family as children of faith in Divine Providence that we should learn to scan the horizon of the world and to perceive the "voice of God" in its events. He synthesized it with the phrase, "the Christian must have the ear on the heart of God and a hand on the pulse of time", an idea that Vatican Council II made universal with the expression "signs of the times". This reality also refers to the so-called "law of counterview" (Gegensatzgesetz), through which we can discover, in the light of faith and in the events of the times, what God asks of the disciples of his Son in a concrete moment of history. During the era of National Socialism, Father applied the "law of counter-view" determining strategies and tactics of the Schoenstatt Family in these difficult times.

In light of what was said I want to share the contents of two articles that were sent to me from Madrid, both appeared in the last page of the newspaper "El Pais" within a short period of time and signed by Rosa Montero, a journalist and writer of agnostic thinking. In the first article, she tells of two similar deeds.

A young girl withdrew from a bank account more money than what had been agreed upon with her boyfriend. When the boy told her he would go by the bank to check on the state of the account, she had the "bright idea" to call the bank saying that a bomb had been placed in the bank. Of course, the boyfriend could not enter. A boy had an exam and he had not studied for it, he had the "good idea" of calling the school, warning that a bomb had been placed there and that it would go off at any moment. Of course, they did not take the exam. Both were discovered and arrested by the police

The second article referred to an aberrant deed committed by two 18 year and one 16-year-old youth. The three of them had a record of abusing beggars and immigrants. One night they discovered a woman who was sleeping in a threshold covered with cardboard. This sight awakened the "good idea" of searching for a can of flammable liquid and after pouring it on her, they lit it, causing her death. After the "great deed", the two older ones went home to play with video games and the younger one went to a party. When arrested by the police they declared, on their defense attorney’s advice that they did not know that the liquid they used was flammable, which the judge did not believe.

Who has the mission of educating…?

The fact that I cited some acts that happened in Spain does not mean that these things only occur there. Today similar events occur in many nations. What we should not do is remain as simple spectators in the wake of events like these. Something is happening in the educational setting, something has become twisted in the educational field and in a wider manner in society. We know that the fundamental mission of parents is to educate their children, preparing them for life, teaching them how to live and encouraging the best in each one of them. They must also try to correct or curb negative tendencies. This is not the case in a great number of cases. It is not so in many of the schools and colleges. We know it is not the case when we encounter people whose social behavior transgresses the established norms and laws and we observe that this anti-social attitude is widely practiced or it is spreading. It is not the case in the general behavior of the leaders, whether they are politicians, businessmen, professional, or religious. The problem is that those who have the mission to educate seem to have resigned from the task. Where there is a mission, it could be that there is resignation and this is what seems to have happened and is happening.

Are they to blame for not having a plan for life?

Of all that can be said about the subject, there is something that has caused me to reflect further. It is about a heading that I read in an Italian newspaper. "Young people spend an average of 900 hours in classrooms annually; they spend more than 960 hours watching television". We assume that in the classrooms they are taught and guided, but this does not happen with television programs. In general, the pre-adolescents and adolescents watch programs with a high content of violence and this make them susceptible to violent conduct, including erotic violence. What is the subconscious condition of the young? That which gets their attention, and in this case gets their primary attention, sways them to instinct and violence. To see something and then, to want to try it, is just a step away. It is almost a need that has been created.

When I encounter parents who are concerned and worried about the education of their children, I can sense a feeling of helplessness in them: "as much as we try at home, we cannot control the school, the streets, and barely or not at all – television or Internet". Are the youths that Rosa Montero cited simply to blame, irresponsible, or are they victims? I know that that many will react angrily to this question. The reaction comes from powerlessness and in some cases, incapability. It seems that we know the reality, but we might feel that a solution can not be found. On the other hand, I can see in many youths a total lack of purpose and meaning for their lives. They live for today. We must enjoy today. Are they to blame for not having a plan for life? I do not believe so, but what I do believe is that all of them would like to have to have one but they do not know how to accomplish this. Here, we return again, to the necessity of role models.

Let us reflect your image

What I have written is not a mere exhibit of delirium, rather on the contrary. What are the signs of the times that are behind the deeds that were narrated? What voice of God can we hear in them? How can we apply the law of counterview? Family education, schools and college education, civic and community education is teetering and it demonstrates disorientation. I believe that in this we have an opportunity. It is as if God were more and more pointing out the importance of the family and the youth. The family, because it is the first school, the place where in par excellence man learns how to be man, where he incorporates and develops the first and essential social virtues. The youth because it is the time when positive self images grow and preparations for life are made. They need particular attention, accompaniment, dedication. Role models are an essential ingredient because they are the ones that open the youth to the ideals and values of life. We need educators who see as their mission in life the education of others. We are in need of role models who will make others see that an education without ideals and values, without utopias and risks hasn’t the ability to "pull out" talents that are the blessing of each young person. Educators and roles models who know that to educate is, in conclusion, to "configure", and to "reflect" God’s, "image" of man. Perhaps, if there is so little love, so little tenderness, so little capacity to forgive and have mercy, it is because of the "disfiguration" and the "lack of reflection" in out times.

How good it would be to tell Rosa Montero: "Do not be afraid, a new world is possible, we are creating it and recreating it each day". So be it.


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