During this second Alfedena camp, I think we all felt something similar. Most of us are at an age when we're searching for our true path in life, and we suffer from not having found it yet.
So many questions before our four silences. I found myself wondering sometimes why I was there with them, and how they were helping me understand my real relationships. These questions are normal. We shouldn't be afraid to ask them.
Even though we're clumsy in our contact with Sabina, with Norris, the two Roberts, and our little Daniele, something passes between us.
This allows us to discover values we didn't know existed. As we enter into this mystery of silence shared by our friends who suffer most, we find answers to our own questions.
The desire to live more fully "with" them comes through a search for gentleness and attention toward our friends who suffer most. I felt that this concern was genuine during this camp. For me, this seems the essential point in contact with a handicapped person: I myself, when others show gentleness and respect toward me, am very happy.
It is only in these moments that I feel fully recognized as a person.
Enormous thanks to our four silent friends and to their parents, who in their great suffering are truly a call to us.
We can help them, and above all, be increasingly "in truth" with them.
Patrick Emanuel Thonon, 1980
