Some children who live in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont wanted to follow together New York Encounter’s theme, “Crossing the Divide” and to experience Fr. Giussani's claim:
One night there was no moon but the sky was crystal clear and packed with stars. Just in the curve in the road I saw something none of you has ever seen...a “bridge” on the sea made from the reflection of the Milky Way. And so I thought to myself on that occasion, “It’s really true that here below there is a hundred times more. Who is able to look at the sea closely? Who is able to look at things so closely?”
~ Luigi Giussani
Alberto Savorana, The Life of Luigi Giussani, p. 123
Children built together the model of Boston's suspension bridge, Zachim. The work began two months earlier, but during New York Encounter the bridge was painted and assembled. Younger children were invited to work on smaller truss bridges.
From the time men first arrived on Earth, they have been trying to build bridges to span distances, overcome rugged terrain, cross dangerous waters, and make connections with other people. The Arkadiko Bridge, built in 13th Century B.C., is the first surviving example of this effort. Since then, men and women have changed designs and materials to produce ever stronger and longer bridges to close wider and more difficult gaps.