Hope for the future

 At the beginning of 1990, a book published by the unknown teacher of Arzano (NA), Marcello D'Orta, caused a great deal of attention, in which he collected some themes, written with the peculiar and authentic language of his students, in which the poor social reality of the place. These children, although resigned and sad in their condition of indigence, told with ungrammatical, distorted and hilarious what the teacher explained, hiding between the lines a strong desire for redemption, the desire to soon reach a more gratifying future than the reality in which one they found. In this period of pandemic, surely we too, at times, have gathered courage by repeating the most significant phrase of that book, "I hope that I will get along", confirming the wisdom manifested unconsciously by those children in their themes, the meaning of which explicit is embodied in the hope of a better fate in the future.

Hope (combined with faith and charity) is one of the cornerstones of Christian theology and, as we know, it is the last feeling to die. Therefore, it cannot be assimilated to generic formulas such as: "everything will be fine", aimed at exorcising an unexpected and unwelcome present, but represents a challenging and courageous awareness of a reality yet to be built through the experience of the past and based on the current situation. This is what our society needs in these uncertain times. Instead, we are invaded by a phony concreteness of unstable numbers and predictions, especially on the fight against the virus that has changed our existence. The vaccine that will save lives is rightly targeted: some say it is ready in Russia, but others fear that this is not sufficiently tested. It is therefore considered safer to wait for the one being tested in England, which could be distributed at the end of the year, or rather, in a year or perhaps two. Young people, always cited as full of high hopes, do not care about the pandemic, they prefer to have fun today, then we'll see tomorrow. Adults who manage this eternal present, without a clear vision of the future, are careful not to invoke hope so as not to be considered cowardly. The older ones are the only ones attached to hope, to try to survive. Hope cannot arise from uncertainty, it stands on solid foundations previously built.

"Society cannot accept a world without hope", said Mario Draghi, at the opening of the C.L. meeting and, in the continuation, underlined that "participation in the society of the future will require, from today's young people, even greater capacities of discernment and of adaptation ". In conclusion, it seems appropriate, first of all, a precise and public investigation into the reasons for what is happening today, as these, once defined, will make us look at the future differently. But, in particular, it is necessary to support cultural enrichment, a more accurate preparation of the younger generations, aimed at filling the gaps of a hedonistic society, of profit and consumption, to respond to its needs for structural change, in order to grasp those opportunities to be utilize for the future.