Between Classroom and Sport Events: A Lie Left Unspoken

“We were halfway through the school year, in the middle of the school’s afternoon extracurricular activities. But since I’m in athletics, it was also the middle of sport preps for the season of competitions which was about to begin.

Our Italian teacher had arranged for us to meet the author of a book which we had read. A few days before my trainer suggested that I take part in some competitions that were to be held on the same day as our appointment with the author.

The dilemma began as to whether I should choose what I wanted to do or choose to do what would be most correct. I tried to focus my attention not only on feelings, but also on them, on the consequences of my actions for these two people.

Since I didn’t have any active role to play in the appointment with the author, except to be a listener, I decided to attend the competition. It was in telling my teacher of my absence that my ‘trying to love’ would be put to the test. I was fearful, in fact, that she would be displeased because she was so looking forward to this appointment. And so, upon the advice of some friends, I decided to invent an excuse, a doctor’s appointment or some illness that would excuse me from attending the event and avoid any such risk. But, perhaps because of the way I had set out to do things from the beginning, aside from feeling that this choice would clearly be wrong, I found the courage to face this small challenge of telling the truth. To my great surprise and that of the entire class, the teacher didn’t react negatively in the least. On the contrary, she told of how she had been involved in sport in her younger years, and she encouraged me to attend the sport event.

The sport events turned out to be the best I had ever attended, because of the joy I felt and because my previous dilemma had shown how important each tiny choice of love can be, a choice that God welcomes and multiplies in the happiness He gives us. A small attention to respect a neighbour and a small lie never spoken that allowed sincerity to triumph, and fair play made me feel that on that day, I was a real Gen3!”

Who are the Gen3 according to Elena? “They’re teenagers who try to live the Gospel and to bring unity through their actions. Gen3 life is normal everyday life, but and everyday life that plants each moment in eternity, a normality in which each gesture is made exceptional because it is addressed to God, and aimed at winning Heaven.”