After twelve years living in Nairobi, since August I have been in Denver, Colorado. As one can easily imagine, there are a few differences. I think that I have, however, come to discover one thing that these two worlds have in common: the profound desire, inherent in every person, to discover that they are loved and wanted, created according to a good design.
I work in the school of our parish as an auxiliary teacher. Among my students, there is a little boy with autism whom I will call Victor. He came to our school this year because at his previous school, he was made fun of. He interacts well with the others, but sometimes he responds in an awkward way, without many filters; for this reason, at the beginning, his new classmates struggled to relate with him.
Speaking with his teacher, we reached the conclusion that the kids were having difficulty because they did not understand why Victor acted the way he did. With the blessing of Victor’s parents, one day when he was absent, we explained to the class what autism was by reading a story and indicating that this condition was what Victor had and was the reason for his behavior. The teacher underlined that there was nothing wrong with him, that all of us are created in a unique and irrepeatable way by God according to a good plan. I invited them to think of what they could learn from him, explaining that I thought he was a special gift to the class. The kids took the conversation seriously. I was struck when, during a lesson, Victor presented on a group project he had done with his classmates: he is learning to express himself better and to discover that what he says elicits something in the others.
This is how evil is propagated, even without wanting it. It is a matter of a subtle line between saying or not saying something, in having or not having the courage to indicate a path.
This episode made me think of the mystery of evil in the world and of our task. I do not think that the kids of his previous school were particularly wicked; probably, no one helped them to stay in front of Victor just as he was. I thought that if we had not spoken with our students, they too would have begun to avoid him, to isolate him and maybe even to make fun of him. This would have made him sad and led him to respond in a violent way. This is how evil is propagated, even without wanting it. It is a matter of a subtle line between saying or not saying something, in having or not having the courage to indicate a path. Often we are distracted and we do not propose the good that we should and that we ought; we let things slide and we do not assume responsibility for the good that the world awaits and on which God counts to build up His kingdom.
There is a quotation of Mother Teresa with which I always liked to begin the year of catechism in Nairobi: “Often, one sees metal wires, small and large, old and new, that remain unused because if there is no current then they cannot create any light. The wires are you and I, the current is God. We can decide to let the current pass through us, to be used, or we can refuse to be used and allow the obscurity to spread.” My wish is that we let ourselves be used by God!
