Everyone is responsible

The times we live in every day challenge us and demand a reaction that is not distracted, trivial, or hasty. There's a temptation to adopt a populist attitude, chasing the wave of indifference that, unfortunately, is hitting hard. To this are added harsh, unrestrained words, within today's deregulation that is somewhat shocking. And, immersed in this uninspiring climate, it becomes urgent—precisely because the atmosphere is like that—to rediscover an often-forgotten word, "responsibility." As citizens, as aware people, and also as believers. Called into question by what is happening. Cultivating a focused and unaccustomed, attentive and sensible (i.e., responsible) gaze, while wars become more vicious, merciless and lacerating, claiming innocent, defenseless victims, children, the elderly, mothers, adolescents... in a dismaying and atrocious spiral.

Faced with these scenarios that TV brings to our homes at dinnertime, we must not get used to it. We must worry about how the great men of this world no longer know how to make peace, instead allowing weapons to triumph in the hands of the bullies of the moment. We must heartily call for an immediate change of direction, with the courage to swim against the tide, not giving up in indifference. We must cling to faith so that it may thaw the hearts of stone that preside over today's conflicts and atrocities. In short, a responsibility that weighs on us increasingly.

During our daily lives, we have also encountered important questions, such as those of the referendum questions, which require answers to specific but significant issues in the world of work and the possibility or otherwise of facilitating the recognition of Italian citizenship for those who have been in our country for years as foreigners and with fewer rights. Our responsibility lies in taking these steps, enshrined in the Constitution, more seriously, exercising a democracy we should never ignore (as we have). Because our responsibility also includes not backing down or thinking about other things when decisions affecting millions of people are at stake, decisions that deserve respect and consideration. Because the growing abstention rate when elections are held does not appear to be a good sign, and is not a good symptom; on the contrary, it is. The quality of politics—which concerns the common good—is something we build together, starting from the bottom, when we are called upon to express ourselves with an attentive eye on the situations of individuals and families, on the reality of the facts to be governed, on coexistence with full dignity, without leaving anyone on the sidelines, but rather with everyone playing a leading role, questioned and ready to take charge.


Corrado Avagnina
NP June/July 2025