The success of the miniseries "Adolescencia" has been devastating. Its excellent script, production and acting are a relevant part of it, but above all, the subject matter captures, moves and leads to a deep reflection that has to lead us to action.
There are controversial positions about it, but I will concentrate on the message I received personally.
I have been dedicated for 30 years to family counseling and I have seen the radical change in the problems that families present. In marriages, separations and divorces are multiplying. Both parents, even when they are together, work so many hours a day and have so many social or business commitments that there is little, really very little, time spent with the children.
A distraction of which we are not aware
In the absence of parents, the innocence of our children has been stolen practically without us realizing it. Magicians say that they do their tricks through distraction. They try to make the spectator see something else, to concentrate in another direction, while the magician removes or puts what he will impress us with.
What is distracting us from our educational work? What is keeping us from the path of full human fulfillment, which involves forging our character within the family?
By the year 2000, the consequences of this trend on our children were severe: increased eating disorders, hyper-sexualization of the environment, promotion of premature "protected" sex, increased substance abuse (alcohol and drugs). By 2020 the foundations were laid for an emotional and moral devastation in the souls of our adolescents that was aggravated by the impact of technology. Doctor's offices are filled with adolescents who have frank digital addictions. The vast majority face social pressure to have the perfect image, or the perfect life. They increase the violence and bullying online and in real life. They increase low self-esteem, depression and anxiety.
The miniseries to which I refer, reveals the serious damage of this abandonment in which our children find themselves. They take refuge in the screens, there is little family coexistence, parents allow them to lock themselves up with their screens for hours, their bad behaviors are justified because they "feel" sad, irritable, angry... we forget that making room for feelings means knowing them, understanding them and choosing wisely what we will do with them; it is not about giving control of our lives to those feelings. It is about knowing them in order to manage them in the most convenient way possible.
Adolescence and the deception of society
Our adolescents are called to experiment with their bodies and they are told that it is normal, they are led to practice touching, to experience sensations...they are living something for which they are not fully prepared; their bodies react to erotic stimuli, but their minds and hearts are not yet mature enough to face the challenges of an active affective-sexual life. We are not talking to them about their value as persons, about the value of sexuality itself, which is so high and important. We talk so little with them that they do not reveal to us those "secrets" of the social networks. We don't know about the unfortunate icons that mean destructive insults and hurt the self-concept so incipient in this period of life.
Our society calls us vigorously to hedonism and we have left behind those ideals that move us to heroism. The notion of God is null and void in the series and in the lives of many of today's families. Without God, we do not know the difference between good and evil. The protagonist repeated: "I didn't do anything wrong". Murdering a classmate with a dagger was not wrong for him.
True reconciliation
True reconciliation between men at odds and at enmity is only possible if they allow themselves to be reconciled at the same time with God, said St. John Paul II, there is no peace without justice, there is no justice without forgiveness.
Our faith calls us to imitate Christ, who sacrificed himself for love. It sounded very strong for me to hear this phrase: "parents nowadays do not even sacrifice themselves for their children"... but I believe it has the weight of truth in many cases.
We do not want to talk about effort, donation and obedience to a God who made us for love and to love. We are distracted and we need to love more, to sacrifice more, to commit ourselves more.
Family, be what you are!
Let's go home and give our time and listening to those little ones who need to be loved and valued by their parents! Nothing is worth more than your family!. May our little ones not need to get recognition on the interwebs, may they feel so sure of their worth that they are not derailed by reckless and sick comments. May together, as a family, we go out to do good. May they themselves be agents of change. Pope Francis has told young people that they are the hope of the Church and of humanity. He asked them to change the world as Mary did: bringing Jesus to others, caring for others.
St. John Paul II, in his letter to families reminded us of the sublime mission we have as parents: to guide our children so that they may be forged as good men and women. And he called upon us to do so by living an exemplary life, respecting each other, living and sowing the faith, doing good. He invited us with a powerful voice: Family, be what you are!
