Greta, the cosmos and rising life

Editorial Staff

A maxi-advertisement in favour of life in its infancy hung on a building in Rome caused a sensation. The slogan refers to the young activist against climate change, Greta Thunberg: “Dear Greta, if you want to save the planet, let’s save the puppies of man”. In my house I heard the reaction of my 16-year-old daughter: “Why keep a son if I know I can’t educate him? If I know he was born of rape? If I know my partner doesn’t want it? And again, why keep him if, among other things, we are in financial straits?”. I’m a little ashamed, but I admit I couldn’t answer.

P.M.

Personally, I admire you for not answering with prepackaged sentences that might not have touched your daughter’s heart. The answers we are called to give to our young people are answers that take into account their questions and not simply our convictions. Your daughter’s four questions are true questions and the fact that you have listened to them without blaming them can become an opportunity for frank and humble dialogue. Of course, it is never elegant to minimize the effort of someone who engages in one just cause by calling another into question. Perhaps your daughter first wanted to sympathize with her peer Greta Thunberg. From this beautiful harmony on the desire to commit oneself to the safeguard of creation, one could slowly also speak of other urgencies to the point of reaffirming some important values such as respect for life in all its phases. Everything should be seasoned with the salt of respect and with a wise use of time that allows the other to really listen, until you let yourself be questioned. It’s first and foremost a question of style!