I want to stay a child

That land that we call “holy” because it was the birthplace of Jesus, has been soaked in brotherly blood for centuries. Now more than ever. But hope tells me that one day it will be, if we finally approach each other not as an enemy.
Hope will then have our face, it will finally be the face of God’s heart.

The Middle East has always been in my heart, I love it deeply as I love all the places where people suffer from war, hunger, injustice, climate change. It is a love that makes me indomitable, a love made of encounters, faces, stories…

One day, in Iraq, I met a singular child: “I don’t want to grow up,” he told me, “I don’t want to become an adult.”
“And why?” I asked him. “Because I don’t like you adults. I don’t like you because you make war.
In fact, it seems like you don’t know how to do anything else. For this reason, I don’t want to become like you. I want to remain a child. I wish there were only children in the world.
Then there would be peace.”

"You know what I say? You're right. I don't like war either.
I didn't like becoming an adult either. And so, as my body grew and began to age, I found a way to remain a child inside. You can't see it, but I am a child."
"And how did you do it? Is it magic?" "Simple: I confided in Jesus. I told him: let my heart remain a child. He listened to me!
In fact, sometimes many adults don't understand the things I say: for them, who have studied so much or feel powerful, they are too simple, too childish."

"You gave me an idea, I'll tell Jesus too. Who knows if the three of us together, with children's words, will be able to convince adults not to wage war anymore. I say yes!"

Ernesto Olivero
Editorial
NP November 2024