Where to begin to talk about this experience that smacks of effort, of getting involved, of dialogue?
Two days together, young people, but not very young people starting out with the world of work or at the end of university and some adults, each coming from different parts of Italy.
Moments of listening and reflecting on the provocations of the guests who spoke on stage in the morning and in the afternoon exchanges in small working groups, divided by topics of interest.
A moment to get to know each other, not only to know where you come from, "what you do in life", but to discover that meeting and relationships between generations are possible, that it is nice to talk to each other, tell stories, discover that what is in the mind it distances us, it can be a stimulus for me and for others.
We collect some shares from people of different ages and places of life:
We met young people and adults to look for new ways together, to see lights beyond the night, in a warm and affectionate mutual embrace that dissolved loneliness and fears. I hope that it is the beginning of a journey, of "a new way of being in the world", rooted in history and open to the infinite, a prelude to the time to come.
From the initial concern during the organisation, on the part of some adults about how to "live up" to the questions that the world of young people finds themselves experiencing, little by little we have discovered how often what they are looking for in the relationship with those who are more adult, goes well beyond the answers. (…) The result is that we return home perhaps with even more questions, few answers, a heart full of new encounters and a cell phone full of new contacts, with the promise of continuing together, each in our own place, investing in dialogue between generations .
The challenge was, in my opinion, won: the care and attention that went into the preparation of these two days from the first stages really made the difference.
The general climate of active listening, the accessible language, the choice to combine interventions more linked to the theoretical aspect of the topic with stories of concrete experiences, the merciless hourglass which gave all the speakers the same time to speak, contributed to making everyone feel part of a real discussion, which called them personally to question themselves on the topics raised by intervening with questions, but also sometimes just to share a thought or a concrete experience.
A breath of fresh air for a freer, younger and more concrete approach (...) I am sure that we can still grow in this dialogue with contemporary culture. As? (…) I would have many ideas that emerged from this experience together but… I am waiting for the first move from the young people who participated.
I am sure that - as in the metaphor of the sequoia - they will know better than me to give sustenance to this project and take it further, perhaps watering the old roots with new dew and renewing the idea through the thick bark of this decades-old tree.
P.S. the sequoia is a rotor-heart. The name comes from the way the redwood roots grow. In cross section, a heart shape is almost always recognizable.
Cecilia, Cristina, Letizia, Valter
