The chemistry of good

Publish date 08-01-2021

by Ernesto Olivero

There is a nuance that strikes me in the Pope's latest message for the World Day of Peace. It is the image of care. The idea that a great goal is never achieved alone, but with commitment, gradually, with humanity.

Peace is like that. I always thought it was not a slogan to be shouted in the squares or in the parades. Peace, like hope and love, is a concrete fact, it is a choice of life, it is the radical commitment to fight against all injustice. The strength of an ideal can be disruptive, but we must continually envelop it with patience, delicacy: we need to rediscover our motivations every day, to say our yes. In this way we will make our own the horizons indicated by the Pope, his vision which involves all areas of life, personal and social. Above all, I make mine a proposal from him: "To establish a" World Fund "with the money used in weapons and other military expenditures in order to definitively eliminate hunger and contribute to the development of the poorest countries".

I also feel the same urgency. I feel the urge not to remain silent in the face of thousands and thousands of wars in history and hundreds of millions of deaths. It seems absurd: so many men are ready to do anything to cheat, make money, become powerful. They are also ready to kill. The arms market proves it.
History tells us that wars have been and continue to be an instrument for resolving various disputes. But if the weapons were not built, the problem would not even arise. Yes, the weapons must be wiped off the face of the Earth because they kill and do it five times. They kill because they take away vital resources and billions of dollars from healthcare, education, development.
They kill the intelligence of many young people who design increasingly sophisticated devices instead of engaging in other areas. They actually kill when used. They kill because they are preparing revenge. They kill by marking the veterans forever.

I believe the tragedies of history and the complexity of today's world tell us that it is no longer time to wait.
Humanity can be reborn! Each of us can do it, living - if he is a believer - holiness as the highest form of his being in the world. As a non-believer, the constant commitment to change, to convert to convert the negative course of history. Nothing else matters.

I feel it as an urgency especially in this difficult time. The Covid emergency made us feel helpless, lost, very small. Still, I wish that in this new year we learn to erase the word "impossible". In the past we have been able to go to the moon, to discover cures for incredible diseases, to face very complicated situations. Who prevents us from doing this too? I feel that all of this will be possible if young people finally return to being young, putting their minds on the line to find the right formulas in many situations. Young people capable of studying the chemistry of good, having the courage to say no to so much nonsense, to drugs, to infamous addictions. If they do this, young people will understand that by joining forces and ideals they can do something incredible, fight any battle and win it. But unarmed!

Today is a time of peace, a time of forgiveness, a time to meet, a time to believe that we can truly be guardians of each other. With the contribution of young people, humanity can become like a family, in which every difference, every color, every culture are simply the shades of God's imagination. Young people who do not judge, who support and care for those who struggle most, who do everything to defeat hunger, to bring care and education everywhere, to guarantee a worthy job, to bind every form of loneliness. Young people like this would be the architects of a true revolution, of a springtime of peace and reconciliation.
They would be protagonists of a new beginning. Without proclamations. With life.

Ernesto Olivero
Editorial
NP January 2021


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