Hajja Salesjana

Knowledge of the young person and his/ her abilities. In Don Bosco’s pedagogical system, the young person is always able to find within him/herself those personal resources which, once put into play together with God’s grace, will bring him/her to propose and to reach new goals for his/her own improvement and self-mastery. Educational and pastoral experience of daily life . Educational accompaniment is realized in daily life: on the playground, e.g., for it is that informal space par excellence wherein the educator can get to know and accompany the young. The extraordinary takes place in the ordinary: during the moments of daily life, the educator and the student are both hard committed to each other in frequent conversations, in sharing work and leisure in a relationship of getting to know each other, and often also one of deep friendship, which prepares the way to trust, dedication, and docility (“Make yourself loved and not feared”). Educational environment and family style . Seeking to imitate what he experienced in his own family, Don Bosco wanted to transplant this family spirit to daily life at Valdocco. This sharing of life between the educators and the young had to be like that which is lived between parents and their children. Use of technology that cannot substitute human teachers: education will remain (and ought to remain) an activity of high-intensity human interaction. In the future, the principal challenge, therefore, will be to find the right balance in using technological tools while continuing to invest and believe in the human factor. Prevention as our method. The concept of “prevention” as spoken of by Don Bosco is not “welfare”noris it purely“protective” by nature; it aims, instead, to empower others so they may overcome negative factors capable of destroying the person. In the case of COVID-19, new educational strategies are necessary so as to sensitize and prepare the students—our adult citizens of tomorrow—to seek out solutions that will take into account respect for life, sustainable development, and ethical commitment. Personal accompaniment as spiritual direction: sanctity. Don Bosco the educator did not limit himself to the human level but went beyond to the spiritual one. His goal is for total happiness (for Paradise). It is to this end that he will “go to the point of foolhardiness” walking the ever-risky and difficult tightrope. On Don Bosco’s shoulders, we, too, can go forward to the future fearlessly—keeping our eyes fixed firmly on the Stars of Heaven. Affectionately, Don Angel photo by Robert Collins www.unsplash.com 34 Jannar-Marzu 2022 hajja