Last May 7th, a meeting was held aimed at preventing deviance and providing information on issues of legality, with particular attention to youth problems; a former prisoner spoke, accompanied by Father Giancarlo, rector of the Community of the Needy of Oricola, with whom the students were able to reflect on education in prison and the importance of freedom.
The event was part of the project “Cohesive community, safer city”, wanted by the Municipality of Avezzano and to which the “Vitruvio” Scientific High School has joined with conviction and enthusiasm, in agreement with the Headmaster, Professor Nicolina Tania Ulysses to whom issues relating to legality are particularly close to their hearts.
The professor Eliana Nannirepresentative of the projects for the prevention of bullying and cyberbullying, collected the reflections and questions of the children who listened to the guests and also reported his reflections.
« Contact person for the prevention of Bullying and Cyberbullying: where to start? The road unfolds by itself when there is the desire, combined with the will, to protect and make those who have just started to enjoy life feel good. As? By participating in a national conference (7 February) that remembers the victims of Cyberbullying; watching a film, then commenting on it; offering the opportunity to discuss and request information from experts, representatives of the Postal Police, who protect the safety of all of us, sometimes unaware victims of the wizards of new technologies; but perhaps it’s not enough, more needs to be done…
Here, then, is a religious man, wearing sandals and a long beard – continues the teacher, letting herself go to the emotions and passion that guided her – who enters the school with a young, small man, an ex-prisoner who recounted the pain of the years spent in crime.»
The result was that the kids opened up and gave voice to their fears and discomforts: “I don’t talk to my parents; I only turn to them for material needs’. Or: “I’m scared when I’m out on the street; I feel the danger just because I am a girl, in our city.” But again: “Words must be used with care: before saying them, let’s try to get to know the other”.
But how can we know others if we don’t know ourselves? Why don’t we reveal ourselves to ourselves and others? This is the strong provocation, despite its archetypal simplicity, that Father Giancarlo left to the students who responded, disarmed by any mask: “We are afraid of being judged”.
«And so the school – concludes Prof. Nanni – must become a listener, as well as a teacher; she must be able to grasp the “self” of the children entrusted to her without judging it, to cultivate it with love and attention until the cocoon becomes a butterfly.»
