The event disrupted the already hectic rhythm around the sports area of the Jesús Argüelles school in this city. In the middle of the day, word spread of the beating of an eighth-grade student of the nearby junior high school by several older boys. Within minutes, the place became a chaos of speculation and uncertainty.

The following day, several pioneers from the elementary school itself returned home claiming to have seen videos of the assault. In some phones, the fight was recorded, and it flowed like hotcakes among the eager little heads, in their eagerness to understand a world that still does not fit them.

It is not the first time that the place in question has become a space to throw blows, arrange fights, or gossip to the extreme, and incidentally, intoxicate the environment, which is always full of small children who are frightened, imitate, and nowven record with their cell phones.

Nowadays, disagreements between children are not uncommon, nor is it rare that they end up inciting fights at the school's exit. Every era has had more or less the same nuances. But be careful with normalizing violence, we are living in moments where many crises converge, and unfortunately, one of the consequences is that our environment is also becoming more dangerous.

The reality of Las Tunas already knows what it is to regret, months ago, the death of a teenager at the hands of another. And it seems that the lessons fell on deaf ears... The young people, sometimes without hair on their faces, go to play their luck armed with pipes, sticks, stones, bats, and such a long list of utensils designed to do harm that anyone can get scared.

Having a child carries a share of responsibility as great as its size. Anyone who believes that the Junior High School boy no longer needs supervision because “he's a grown man” doesn't know, or doesn't want to know, the “demons” that haunt him.

Some families prepare their children to live among “wild beasts.” They do not worry because they know that they always win, no one can put a foot on them because they have made them strong. There are other complex cases, where parents are completely unaware of what their children are doing because they are too busy trying to guarantee food; some are not even in Cuba.

In this amalgam of peculiarities, it is up to the youngest to grow up. There are no individual bubbles. The best armor that can be offered to them comes from communication, close dialogue, inquiring when you notice your child is different, withdrawn, and looking him/her in the eyes.

Educating, talking, or correcting are not options in the family warmth; they are duties that come, even, molded in legal requirements. And that, I believe, is where our collective Achilles heel can be seen: we need a more timely and severe multisectoral response to violence. If there are kids who don't know how to stay away from problems, there must be institutions designed to reform them. Acting accordingly can make the difference between life and death.

It is up to the neighborhood to be attentive. Bad behavior should and must be corrected. When parents decide to look the other way, then as a society, we must find someone to take action. This protagonism is vital to protect the youngest. Even so, calling the police at the slightest conflict, interceding, and never turning our backs.

We are almost at the door of a new Code for Childhood, Adolescence, and Youth. Experts assure us that, in terms of protection, it will be everything revolutionary that today's Cuba needs. Let's hope it lands on solid ground and finds an effective operational support, because right now, violence seems to be naturalized and dispersed in young faces like the adrenaline of renewed fashions.