Factors that influence one’s philsophy

Physical Features: The Physique of the person matters a lot in his/her outlook towards life. For instance Sartre was short and even his friends made fun of him.Don Bosco was strong and robust. This made him develop all sorts of skills to attract the young. He learned carpentry, music, shoe making, tailoring and many other manual skills.

Mental capacity: Personally, I felt that I was not so bright in studies, but the moment I found myself in the seminary set up I could see that I could show my mental ability. I could memorise things, pick up English fast, act in the skits, etc. I could get prizes for the many quiz competitions.

Don Bosco showed a high mental acumen. He loved books and could read at length. He could memorise with just one reading. When he used to hear sermons, he could remember and repeat word for word. In the Latin class when he forgot to bring his Latin text books, he could repeat what was taken in the class without even looking at the books.This later helped him to be jack of all trades and almost master of everything.

Personality traits: Don Bosco by temperament was short tempered. He used to get angry. Perhaps this temperament made him to work at himself by adopting just an opposite of this in the loving kindness of St. Francis De Sales. He was attached to people (commollo, Don Cafasso, and others). He even was attached to things – His little black bird.

He lost his father at the age of two. He himself was a father to many and he had his need for a father met in the father figure like Don Cafasso.

Family status: Who can earn a living doing full time philsophy? This is the case with any writers today. Without money there is no way out. Most of the know philosophers came from noble families. They had their basic necessities met. Don Bosco was from a peasant family background.

Family problems: Don Bosco had problems with his elder brother. For this reason he even had to stay away from the family. Later with his experience of being away from home helped him to understand his boys. His concern was to help the needy and the abandoned. His boys were unemployed, poor and mostly run away lads due to problems at home.

Political Events: In Don Bosco’s time the situation of politics was very volatile. When he was born Italy was only in a temporary peace. Later there were revolutions, political upheavels and strife. Those events in a ways were violent. It could also have an impact on the temperament of a person. I remember in my own earlier days the clash between political parties, killings, etc. I even saw a dead body lying on the road with a five rupees note stuck on the but of the victim. That picture is clear in my mind.

Natural calamities: Natural calamities are difficult to understand. It remains a mystery. Some attribute to human errors as a cause of it. Yet some others attribute it as a God’s Will. In Don Bosco’s days famine, poverty, plagues, lightening, etc.were really grief striking. Yet with all these the attitude towards life and surrounding were in no way pessimistic. The outlook of Don Bosco was optimistic filled with hope. He even learnt it from his mother. For example when their harvest was destroyed Mamma Margaret said, “The lord of the harvest has given and he has taken it.”