Teachers of hope

We live in times of uncertainty and hopelessness. The time of the pandemic has been followed by the insecurity of war. The experiences faced by the new generations are of fear, with the only certainty that the times they will face are going to be difficult. And we know that, for the first time, the generation after ours will live worse than their parents did.

Thus hopelessness is taking deep root in the hearts of the men and women of our time.

But beyond the historical conjunctures that have marked us the COVID or the conflict in Ukraine, that hopelessness is being taken away from our society in a tremendously subtle way. It is a whole atmosphere of hopelessness that we have been breathing for years. In the face of a positive, light-filled outlook on life, we have been thrust into a perspective of struggle, conflict and darkness. We are being robbed of hope.

The ground we walk on is no longer firm. Truth has become relative, morality subjective, the pillars on which society is based, especially the person and the family, have been shaken and called into question. In the face of models of heroes who embodied values of justice and honesty, in series and movies we are now presented with ambiguous and vengeful models. The truth is becoming blurred, the ideals for which to fight and even for which to give one's life are relegated to the pragmatism of every man for himself, the meaning of life is reduced to 'carpe diem'.

Our education is not failing that our young people need better study techniques or modern computers to work better. It is not the motivation we give them that is failing. What we have robbed them of is the meaning of their lives. We are simply robbing them of hope. And without it, in the end, there is no ultimate reason for effort and work.

And this is not an abstract or distant question. It is as close as the life of each of our young people. It is necessary that each young person finds his concrete reason to live, in the style that Victor Frank proposed in his famous logotherapy that he presented to us in his book 'Man in Search of Meaning'. This is what we educators must strive for, starting with their own parents.

But also socially we have to turn this situation around. We must dare to propose positive models to young people. We must encourage them to believe in what is most noble in the human heart. We must encourage them to strive for goodness, to discover and defend the truth, to contemplate and enjoy beauty. We must all educators be authentic teachers of hope.

Because hope, however small it may seem, as the French poet Charles Peguy said in his famous poem 'The Little Hope', is the engine of life.

This hope has nothing to do with voluntaristic optimism, much less with the naive candor of 'everything is going to be all right'. Hope takes into account suffering and pain, failure and effort, the deepest and sometimes crudest reality of life. Hope is based on present and future reality.

This, in my opinion, is the most profound renewal that our education needs. To be able to provide our students with certainties and hopes that will help them to walk and enter the future without fear.

For this it is necessary that the teacher himself has this hope rooted in his heart and in his life, because in the end, as we know well, we only give what we have. That is why no one who lives bitterly or without hope should be a teacher, because he will transmit his bitterness and hopelessness.

The little hope, Charles Peguy,

"I am, says God, Master of the Three Virtues.

Faith is a faithful spouse.

Charity is an ardent mother.

But hope is a very little girl.

I am, says God, the Master of Virtues.

Faith is the one that stands firm forever and ever.

Charity is that which is given for ever and ever.

But my little hope is the one that gets up every morning.

I am, says God, the Lord of Virtues.

Faith is the one that stretches for ever and ever.

Charity is that which extends for ever and ever.

But my little hope is the one that says good morning to us every morning.

I am, says God, the Lord of Virtues.

Faith is a soldier, a captain defending a fortress.

A city of the king, on the borders of Gascony, on the borders of Lorraine.

Charity is a doctor, a little sister of the poor,

Who cares for the sick, who cares for the wounded,

To the king's poor,

On the borders of Gascony, on the borders of Lorraine.

But my small hope is

the one who greets the poor and the orphan.

I am, says God, the Lord of Virtues.

Faith is a church, a cathedral rooted in the soil of France.

La Caridad is a hospital, a sanatorium that collects all the misfortunes of the world.

But without hope, all that would be nothing but a graveyard.

I am, says God, the Lord of Virtues.

Faith is the one that watches over the ages of ages.

Charity is the one that watches over the centuries.

But my little hope is the one that goes to bed every night.

and wakes up every morning

and sleeps really peacefully.

I am, says God, the Lord of that Virtue.

My little hope

is the one that goes to sleep every night,

in her bed as a child, after saying her prayers,

and the one who wakes up every morning

and stands up and says his prayers with a new look.

I am, says God, Lord of the Three Virtues.

Faith is a great tree, an oak rooted in the heart of France.

And under the wings of that tree, Charity,

my daughter Charity protects all the misfortunes of the world.

And my little hope is nothing more

that this small promise of budding

which is announced right at the beginning of April."