The following is an essay written by a fourteen-year-old girl. The theme of the essay assigned by her teacher was “Turning Points.”

Fr. Luigi Giussani begs that we ask ourselves a question: “Is it reasonable to leave the only thing in my life that has struck my heart because I don’t understand it?” Thus, he says, “Obedience is born of a reasonable attitude,” a reasonable attitude that allows us to see a God-given grace in our lives, and to follow that grace because it strikes us so profoundly. With this same reasonable attitude, I followed a path that I saw in my life, which moved me in such a way that today I am not the same person I was last year. Last April, my sister joined a youth group called “Gioventù Studentesca” (GS), an international movement inspired by the life and works of Luigi Giussani. Since she joined this group, she has changed in so many ways I never thought possible. With this change came incredible happiness that was impossible to ignore. This alone was inspiring and made me desire the same happiness, the same beautiful depth with which she now perceives life. It was this correspondence to my heart that called me to join the group last November. By her example, my life experienced its greatest turning point by far: the acknowledgement of grace in my life, and the desire to strive to see it everyday in my own reality. What is even more incredible about this experience is that I get to go through it all with my best friend of nearly five years. Ironically, I have learned more about her in these past four months than I have in four years. As I write, I listen to Chopin’s “Nocturne in C Sharp Minor.” Have you heard it? This four-minute song inspires so much beauty in my life, and I am left knowing that it must be everywhere, and it must be something everyone desires and seeks. As each chord in the music is struck with such vigorous passion, and the notes in the scales rise and fall, I no longer want to be the only one who is immersed in such wonder. Fr. Giussani tells us that God does not grace everybody all at once, but those who have received such a blessing should do everything they can to pass it on to others. So I ask myself two questions: Who am I to have received such a grace from God? But, even more, who am I to keep it all to myself? GS, if anything, has changed the desires I have for the lives of others and myself. My sister inspired me, and she in turn was inspired by a friend, who was inspired by Fr. Giussani, who was inspired by his reality–by God. The greatest thing about the turning point in my life is that it didn’t begin, nor does it end, with me.

Elisa Kwon, Toronto (Canada)