Troubled Young Man, the Mystery within us.
Simone Riva - Intro and context: In a time when society is undergoing changes, and there are escalating worries about violence among young people, two recent heartbreaking incidents have deeply affected communities in different parts of the world.
One took place in Winder, Georgia, where a 14 year old student named Colt Gray reportedly carried out a shooting, at Apalachee High School. Tragically this resulted in the loss of two teachers and two students with nine others sustaining injuries. The community is still grappling with the aftermath of this incident, which was preceded by a threatening phone call and has left many seeking explanations
In Paderno Dugnano in Italy country area happened an event committed by a 17 year old boy who did something unspeakable by ending the lives of his parents and younger brother simultaneously creating a terrifying occurrence that brings attention to the struggles faced by young individuals in our society today despite the distance between these incidents there exists a shared theme of adolescent turmoil raising crucial concerns, about the current state of our community and the difficulties encountered by todays youth population.
In the midst of dealing with these incidents Simone Riva presents a reflective insight into the fundamental aspects of human nature that may play a role in such occurrences. Riva’s article titled "Troubled Young Man, the Mystery in us is a Friend and Forgives us" explores the spiritual aspects of human challenges specifically honing in on the sentiment of feeling unresolved, in life and the loneliness that can pave the path to harmful actions.
Simone Riva: “The day I earn it with toil / between the two shores that do not resolve, / unsolved myself for life / ... and no one helps me,” so Alda Merini in her poem Il gobbo written in 1948. The silence demanded by events like the one in Paderno Dugnano can only be broken - or questioned - if we have the courage to identify with that “malaise” identified as the cause by the 17-year-old boy who killed his mother, father and 12-year-old brother on the night between Saturday and Sunday.
We are “unsolved for life.” We could start here, without scattering ourselves in search of explanations, analysis or scandalized words. If we do not decide to take seriously what in us does not find a solution, often leaving us alone, without anyone to really help us, there will always remain a part of us with which we will not be willing to make peace. We will attempt, as cunning players, to fill time, to occupy space, calibrating our moves always in defense, without ever succeeding fully.
Is there perhaps something wrong with us? Are we badly made? Would it have been better not to have been born? Why don't things add up? Why do we “not return” to ourselves? Is all this mystery our friend or our enemy? And then, why do we sometimes feel that we are “a foreign body”-so the young man told the magistrate-even in our most cherished relationships? Without motive, a family was eliminated by a son. Too heavy these questions, insistent, giving no respite.
What if they are indeed the motive? The same questions that lead so many to an indifferent life, accustomed to no reason, bent on futility, this time persuaded to lash out at those before whom one could not pretend completely. This time the feeling of not being able to be helped by anyone turned into an imperative: no one must be able to help me! We often live this way, and even if we don't take anyone out, we take ourselves out.
Now what?
Now space must be left for a countermove. We might as well remain silent, now that everything speaks of an end, of a tragedy. All but that malaise, that wound enough, that perturbation that may be enough to start looking at ourselves as unresolved loved ones. But who will have the courage to go that far? Who will be able to keep us company all the way into that bleeding wound? Who? Only One who has not repented of us and who does not give up when everyone leaves. “Relicti sunt duo, misera et misericordia” (They remained in two, misera and misericordia). St. Augustine had verified this many years ago: there must come a point when there are two left.
Do not fear the duel, restless young man, foreign body, son you have made yourself an orphan. Soon the accusers will leave, beginning with the elders to the accuser in you. Do not fear the only duel that can save you from what you have done, and that will try to make you believe that you are his. Fear not, for in this duel we are the wretched and not the mercy. The yoke is light, the burden is of Another, who is Blood, Life, Freedom not looking for the guilty, not interested in plunging the blade into the blow struck by evil, but always waiting, certain that every man is always greater than the most terrible thing he has done.
And we too, grappling with our ailments, unsolved for life, beg for God's absolution, in that “hand-to-hand” where no one is a stranger. Only thus, restless young man, can we now keep you company.
The translation has not been revised by the author. The article was published on IlSussidiario.net
This translated article is for personal, non-commercial educational use only.
