A Wait Full of Promise
Simone Riva - Ever since God took the initiative to start a dialogue with humanity, He has always used the method of waiting: waiting for the free response of His creatures and for the discoveries they would make, even amid a thousand mistakes. He waits for what will be generated in history by the web of relationships that would inevitably arise from the actions of both. God also wanted this waiting to pass through the most dizzying of its forms: the generation of new life. The anticipation of a child is always at the center of the great historical turning points that mark this dialogue. Thus, waiting itself has taken on the value of a promise of goodness, typical of everything that begins.
The challenge of every dawn is not far from this promise. At the beginning of each day, from the very first moments of awakening, we must all contend with the mass of thoughts and emotions that press in on us. We must identify what holds the imprint of that promise and what, instead, results from the corrosive desolation insinuated by our inner cynicism. The art of this choice is learned over time, provided we are willing to be challenged by all aspects of reality. A few days ago, for example, school started again—amid a thousand procedures, meetings, acronyms, and roles. Everything will unfold in that mysterious and unpredictable encounter of freedom between adults and young people. In this way, the method of waiting will return, charged with the promise held in every move we make.
It is a waiting that always reaches its peak in everything that begins and, for this reason, has to do with our own formation as individuals, almost as if it were a child. Alda Merini, when asked in an interview about her youth, said: "I hoped to become famous at 16, and I did. But when I did, there was nothing inside. I lost my youth. Unfortunately, when we're young, we don't understand what we have in our hands: an incredible value. Do we want to be famous? No. Just be young. This is my lesson in poetry. The rest doesn't matter much."
What a gift it is to enjoy every moment, every season of life, and every new beginning, certain that in them we are given the opportunity for self-discovery—without escape, censorship, diminishment, or accommodation. This is what we desire for every beginning, especially for the new school year. The alternative would be an inexorable boredom: the kind generated by meaningless discussions that fill WhatsApp chats, or by articles from those who always need an enemy to feel alive. Once shared, these articles can divide even those who are supposed to be allies. Not to mention those dialogues in which nothing is communicated. And all the while, God waits, continuing His wager on that which cries out for truth, freedom, justice, and beauty within us. At school, at work, or in the family, if there is one reason it is always worth starting over, it is precisely this: a wait full of promise.
