Fraternity and Adulthood between Beauty and Conflict: A Reflection on Being an Adult Today

On Tuesday 17 March, at the Antico Caffè San Marco in Trieste, a new event in the conference series promoted by the "Manlio Cecovini Study Society” took place. The speaker was Erica Mastrociani, who delivered a rich and thought-provoking talk entitled “Fraternity and Adulthood between Beauty and Conflict”.

From the outset, the speaker clarified the core of her contribution: to reflect on “adulthood”, understood not as a fixed condition acquired once and for all, but as a complex dimension that must be continually explored and reinterpreted. Rather than offering definitive answers, Mastrociani invited the audience to “dwell within questions”, recognising that the educational experience – and life itself – cannot be reduced to rigid frameworks or ready-made solutions.

Through a path that wove together narratives, images and cultural references, the meeting highlighted how becoming an adult primarily means coming to terms with limits. Beginning with the depiction of Adam and Eve in the Sistine Chapel, the expulsion from Paradise was interpreted as the inevitable transition from innocence to responsibility: the adult is one who confronts effort, work and mortality, taking on the weight of their own existence.

Within this perspective, the biblical story of Cain and Abel was presented as a paradigm of human relationships. Conflict, the speaker emphasised, is a structural dimension of human experience: it cannot be eliminated, but must be acknowledged and governed. Cain, unable to bear frustration and lack of recognition, chooses to eliminate his brother rather than engage with the relationship. From this emerges a central question: what stance do we adopt towards others? Encounter, in fact, can turn into either clash or an opportunity for responsibility and growth.

A particularly significant passage concerned the theme of empathy, often regarded today as a cultural acquisition but which, in light of recent studies, appears instead to be an original disposition of the human being. Relationship with others is therefore not optional, but constitutive: each individual is called to consciously choose how to inhabit it.

Considerable attention was also devoted to the transformation of the adult figure in contemporary society. According to Mastrociani, we are living in a time marked by profound changes: longer life expectancy, increased individual possibilities and a strong sense of freedom have all contributed to redefining the boundaries of adulthood. However, these achievements have also produced critical effects, including a growing difficulty among adults in fully assuming their educational role.

In particular, a tendency to prolong youth indefinitely has emerged, with the risk of losing the role of reference point for younger generations. When adults renounce their responsibility, young people find themselves without guidance and tend to seek models exclusively among their peers. This results, according to the speaker, in widespread fragility in educational practices and a gradual loss of the sense of limits.

In this context, the importance of “containment” was reaffirmed as a fundamental dimension of the educational relationship. This does not mean imposing rigidity, but offering clear and reliable boundaries capable of supporting growth. When experienced in a balanced way, limits become a form of care and security.

To conclude the talk, the image of Aeneas – as sculpted by Bernini – offered a powerful symbolic synthesis: the adult is one who takes responsibility for the past, carrying it on their shoulders, while accompanying the future, represented by the child. A figure that embodies a posture capable of holding together memory, relationship and responsibility.

The final discussion further enriched the reflection, addressing themes such as the relationship between growth and inner wounds, the meaning of “making peace” with one’s own story, and the role of relationships in the process of maturation. Mastrociani emphasised that becoming an adult also means facing one’s own fragilities, not by denying them, but by integrating them into a personal and relational journey.

The event thus emerged as an invitation to rethink deeply the meaning of being an adult today: not a static condition, but a living responsibility, played out daily in relationships, choices and in the way we look at others and the world.

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