Читать книгу Let them all tell you what happened - Mercedes Pescador - Страница 29

70 days in lockdown can go a long way. At least, to appreciate twice more the trips on the train, the evenings in the bookshops, the laughs with friends under April’s sun, and that lost spring which we will never get back. Also, to miss a routine which, even though before we thought it was a bit dull at times, has turned out that it was a real privilege. Something which, with the passing of months, seems more and more distant in our memory.

We have got used to be alone and isolated. To wear face masks. To spend hours and hours hooked on apps and video calls so we don’t lose contact with those that used to be our “close circle”. About what is to come after, there’s a lot being said and written, more than enough, maybe. For now, the only thing we know, besides if we are going to be more or less people, is that we are going to live worse. At the same time, we are guessing that many companies, many businesses, specially small and medium sized, will disappear. And that, the same as in the 2008 crisis, finding a job is going to be a high-risk sport not just for one but for more than a hundred thousand.

We’ve also had the chance to see, once more, the incompetence of our governments. Specially those who spend too much time quoting Gramsci or Friedman to cause sensationalism. Maybe in four-years-time it might be harder than expected to reach the sky. It might happen that protesting for the sake of protesting, might not be that useful, and that society gets tired of empty promises, unjustified insults and magic formulas.

Evidently, no-one ever said that everything was always going to be okay. When you dedicate your time to study history, you realised that the times of prosperity and welfare are limited. But also, that human beings, when we set our minds to it, we’re able to do wonderful things. That’s why, when normality arrives, the “new normality”, or whatever name politicians decide to call it, I only hope that all that sacrifice had been useful for something. At least, to value more what brings us together, and to close our ears to senseless threats. Wherever they may come from.