A desire that shines

«When I was in elementary school I came to the oratory all summer and I saw my animators as heroes. Now I want to be like them." The speaker is Emanuele, he is 15 years old and attends an oratory in Milan. For the first year he will be an entertainer at Cre-Grest. His words are the same ones spoken by hundreds of other teenagers, all busy with summer activities with boys and girls: fifteen-year-olds, sixteen-year-olds, seventeen-year-olds.
If you ask them why they decide to make this commitment, they respond with a clear look and sincere enthusiasm. They want to get involved, to be with their friends, to invent games and go on trips. And they have a hunger for relationships that also finds its satisfaction in the oratory.

«When I tell my classmates that I am an entertainer, they make fun of me – says Diego, 17 years old – But then two of them came to see what we do and stayed with us». Why? «I think that we often put on masks to be accepted by others, we change our faces until we find a place where we can only be ourselves. This is what the oratory is for me, perhaps it can become so for them too." The courtyards of Cre-Grest are places where there is a lot of comings and goings. Someone arrives, someone commits for a few months and then leaves, someone joins along the way. "I'm an atheist, but I come to the oratory for the climate I find" says Nicol, 15 years old. Like her, others too, this is confirmed by the experiences of some other animators in the Milanese area. «I go to Mass once a year, but I like being here. I ask myself many questions about life, but I still can't find answers."

Talking to them also brings out a fresh and severe look at the world of adults. «We would like our parents, our teachers, to remember what they were like as teenagers and stop judging us. They often don't see it, but we work hard." Entering the speakers in the month of June, one finds clear confirmation: the desire of adolescents to spend themselves and others shines brightly.

Chiara Vitali
NP June / July 2024