There is hope

The skies of these complicated times are marked by much darkness brought by heavy clouds, as a consequence of tensions, conflicts, oppression, logics of domination, assorted abuses of power, shattered balances… We are living in times that send chills down the spine, because of the uncertainties that wars bring with them in anguish. Starting from the United Nations downward, we perceive the fragility of those shared guarantees that should have overcome resistance, walls, blocks, and the risks of clashes. Instead, dismal logics are gaining strength, tearing to pieces agreements, acquired rights, indispensable duties, dignified visions of living together on this planet, and shared reference points for a humanity that instead risks losing its way. Strong, prophetic, countercultural, lucid voices are not lacking—voices that urge us not to resign ourselves. Yet they often end up unheard in practice. And still, we must neither lose heart nor give up.

Within this horizon, those who carry forward ideal, courageous visions—alternatives to those who reason only in terms of force—are right. Behind us lies the World Day of Peace, with the vigorous and urgent, even concerned and challenging words of Pope Leo, who continues to wager, as a believer in the Risen One, on a “disarmed and disarming peace.” The same Robert Prevost has urged Italian bishops to take responsibility for “paths of peace” within communities, calling upon young people, families, and new generations through a renewed co-responsibility that must be enacted and pursued from below, in everyday life. Because it is there that one begins to breathe an air of peace rather than conflict, prejudice, offense, discrimination, and abuse of power. All of these are toxins that are already multiplying in small things—gestures and words that set people against one another, indeed that legitimize various forms of aggression, even micro ones (which are never harmless).

In short, there is an educational culture that must then be sustained in the further steps to be taken. So that, in adolescence and youth, a perspective of peace may mature—a perspective of encounter rather than clash, of sharing and respect rather than domination and offense. Along these lines, a sensitivity can grow and be refined, one that may one day lead to civil service, to nonviolent choices, to a conscious awareness of the frightening logics of weapons… in order to turn the page. But there is an intermediate step that is perhaps too often bypassed: slowness. This means countering haste, which does not allow the patience to stop and reflect, avoiding drifting off course, giving value to relationships, having time for the other and for others, listening calmly… Slowness as a countermeasure to a world that runs faster and faster and can overwhelm us. In short, a small piece with which to begin changing something, toward a more livable world.

Corrado Avagnina
NP January 2025