‘Some pupils attended classes sporadically, recounts a teacher. During my free periods, I would go to the market near the school, hoping to meet them there, because I had heard that they worked there to earn some money. One day, I finally saw them, and they were surprised that I had gone to look for them personally. They were struck by how important they were to the whole school community. So, they started coming to school regularly again, and it was truly a celebration for everyone.’
This experience expresses the indispensable value of every human being. It speaks to us of unconditional acceptance, of a hope that does not give up, and of the shared joy that arises when dignity is restored by reintegrating someone into the community as a unique and irreplaceable person.
There are moments in life when we cannot all walk at the same pace. Our fragility, or that of others, prevents us from always walking alongside those who accompany us. There can be many reasons for this: tiredness, confusion, suffering... But it is precisely in those moments that a deeply human and radically communitarian form of love is activated: it is attentive love that knows how to stop and look at those who can no longer keep up, that draws near and does not abandon them. It is a love that, like a mother or father with their children, gathers, protects and accompanies. It is a patient love that looks at the other with understanding, respect and trust. It is about carrying each other's burdens, not as a duty, but as a lucid and free choice of love that commits to walking more slowly, if necessary, to keep the family and/or social community, alive and united.
This kind of love – the kind that cares, seeks and includes – makes no distinction between good and bad, between “worthy” and “unworthy”. It reminds us that we can all, at some point, find ourselves lost, and that the collective joy of finding each other again is stronger than any judgement or separation.
This idea is an invitation to see the other not for what they have done, but for the fact that they are unique and worthy of love. It invites us to live the ethic of care, without leaving anyone behind or abandoning anyone, thus re-establishing broken bonds and celebrating together the contribution to making the world a little more human.
Martin Buber, a Jewish philosopher, reflecting on the profound relationship between people as a place of truth, states that authenticity is not found in what we do alone, but in our encounter with others, especially when it occurs with respect and gratuitously.