It is with a certain anger and disbelief that I write these lines, with words that are not flattering or mild, but this is not a time for lenities.
In light of so many past events, the human being can be considered, without fear, as a kind of despicable behavior, or rather, an incongruous species in its true essence: capable of acts of extreme heroism, empathy, kindness and abnegation and, at the same time, the most miserable villain in his own history.
Portugal lives unforgettable moments for the worst reasons. On January 18th, it was announced that we had the world's worst record in deaths and new cases (per million population).
There are lines of ambulances outside hospitals, doctors are being forced to choose among those most likely to survive, morgues are crowded, in some cemeteries, crematoria have a waiting list. And even so, there are those who disdain the destructive power of this virus and continue on the path of irresponsible behavior.
At Christmas, we were invited to be aware of our actions, to share a table with a few, so that next Christmas we could be more. But not. We cannot be patient. At the end of the year, the hidden parties multiplied, as if the virus couldn't find us.
Then there are those who, being asymptomatic, make a normal life — if I don't say anything, no one will know — as if the virus were hiding behind a lie.
And, impatience after impatience, the dead are piling up. Anonymous numbers, with faces, in the families that entered - many of them - involuntarily in the statistics, mothers, grandmothers, grandmothers, uncles, cousins, sons, daughters...
It's not just the elderly who leave, who enter intensive care and fill the wards. The continuous sound of the end does not choose ages.
It's easy to judge who rules. If it's too tight, it's criticized; if it loosens up and gives the citizen the freedom to choose, it governs badly. It seems that everyone forgets that freedom is just that: looking at ourselves, at our interests, without forgetting the interests of others.
Speaking of freedom and continuing in the register of almost cholera, it is with regret that I watch the unfolding of national political life, the unveiled intentions of suffocating our democracy.
The decline of democratization is a trend that we are witnessing in Europe (and beyond) and that seeks to take large steps in Portugal.
We should definitely learn from the mistakes of the past, but the human being — and here is another one of our problems as a species — has a short memory and is dazzled by words without content, whispered in the ear, by whom only crave power for power. The glitter of gold is so easy to imitate.
Political polarization — either you're good or you're evil — populism, xenophobia, machismo, shamelessly enter into the house and the only solution is to throw open the windows so that they leave at the same speed!
On January 24th we still need to vote. To show that the Portuguese know how to read between the lines of hollow words and that they are not just stuck with the words.
Schools will close and confinement will tighten.
We really need to be more patient, not to be patient.
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