We return to Summer and meet once more, following the pandemic, in community and nature spaces in Losara de la Vera and in the Sierra de Gata. This non-formal education with child and youth protagonism, marked by the pedagogy of action, internalizing the gospel of fraternity and the deep joy of being in the construction of a us in communion with nature, with others and with God.
life notebook
Youth, well-being and well-being
I got home quite late and at the roundregarding that gives access to my street there were national police cars with their flashing and flashing lights. On the sidewalk a group of young people in their thirties lined up and separated, with their cars open there. I imagine that it was an inspection and raid because it is close to a neighborhood where drug trafficking is normal. The reality in the city is serious in this sense. The fact of life was written down in my notebook, which is connected to my heart. I came from spending a whole day in a camp for kids from nine to fifteen years old, I traveled more than four hundred kilometers to be with them and I walked more than seventeen kilometers through the gifted and sacred nature that is located in the Sierra de Gata, it was walking day. This camp is organized by a priest friend of Plasencia, Pepe Hermoso, who has been programming them for more than forty years from parish settings, framed in a children’s and community educational process that has now just seen the light of day in a special edition of ten volumes in the PPC publishing house . He was accompanied by a score of monitors between twenty and thirty-five years old, some already active professionals, with some other adults. Young people I met as teenagers and who are the children of others who also participated in these educational paths marked by the pedagogy of action. It contrasted the youthful reality of this community and its sense of life and it hurt me that those who were being inspected there may not have had this opportunity for training and comprehensive growth to build their own people with a deep why that fills them with life. and wishes for the best. In a few days I myself will embark to go with more than fifty young people to Losar de la Vera, to the Garganta de Cuartos to live another experience of this order. The theme chosen by these young students from Extremadura (JEC) to deepen a week of training and enjoyment in the middle of nature seemed great to me: “Well-being for well-being”.
They want to delve into their deep feelings, their thinking, their emotions and acting, in what can really bring them joy and truth in their lives, how to walk so that the desire for joy, pleasure, comfort, satisfaction, joy, celebration, etc. ., do not be in contradiction with your desire to be really in authenticity and originality. Rather, they seek that it be their interior that really produces their joy, so as not to be at the discretion of external elements, whether they are success or pleasure due to addiction. They ask for this because in their daily walk they feel a lot of emotional weakness and they need to strengthen themselves. They want to do it in a group, community and accompanied by adults who are willing to give their time and prioritize this dedication to them in this important stage of their lives.
They will be protagonists of these days in every way, they will seek answers to their questions, they will listen to those who can guide them and believe them, they will live an experience that will transform them and that they will not forget. All studies on young people confirm that those who have a worked interior, who want to do things for others and commit themselves in some way, it is very difficult for them to fall into addictions because they have found a treasure, a jewel, a much greater joy.
I congratulate all those who believe in youth processes, not in loose activities, and facilitate comprehensive personal growth. I have received a lot and I have witnessed it in the Catholic action movements, both in those of students, as well as rural or workers. That is why I continue to love and serve these life processes that fill my notebook with pages of eternity in the summers.
Jose Moreno Losada.
