Every day we look in the newspaper for how bad what awaits us will be. We try to decipher curves and data to understand at once what will be the magnitude of this disaster and what will be its duration. However, something is happening at the same time as this horror. A change in consciousness that we do not know how to measure or show on a graph and that, nevertheless, appears on the balconies every afternoon. And yell and clap. A change that is good.
MORE INFORMATION
The neighbor and the bra- Dystopian
Despite everything, we seemed happy, excitedly waving to the neighbors from balcony to balcony. For the first time in a long time, we are aware of others, of all others, of the efforts of many and of the fragility of so many. As a woman, I have learned solidarity with other women and have shouted loudly alongside many and against many. As a mother, my daughters have taught me lessons in solidarity with the earth and I have also shouted with them: "You are stealing our future from us." I admit that I had become accustomed to always clapping and shouting against others. That is why it is so exciting when the empty streets rumble, full of applause every night. When we feel that solidarity must belong to everyone with everyone, that there is no other way and that there is also no other way, neither with the virus nor with the rest.
The Covid-19 has come loaded with sadness. But a new consciousness has also come to awaken us, that of being with others. And I also believe that we were looking forward to this change. We had been anesthetized for too long, being part of a system that is often too fundamentally wrong. We wanted to do the right thing, to be part of a society capable of reacting to adversity and of putting, if necessary, fragility over money, care over production.
We have never been so isolated before, never so close
We have never been so isolated before, nor have we ever been so united. And even though everything seems to collapse around us, it comforts us to feel that we are not alone. And that we are all. This change in citizen consciousness is not minor and its consequences only time will tell. But I predict that new and good things will happen. Because when a society is solidary as ours is, then we feel that we are part of something bigger and more important than ourselves. And that gives us courage to face life. To also face the disease and even this virus. Even to be better. I honestly don't think that after this we will ever be so faint-hearted in the face of others' pain and need.
This change in consciousness is also transversal because the solidarity movement unleashed by Covid-19 is the first that no one is left out: it includes any citizen from zero to one hundred years of age. Fortunately, the children are finding out everything and they are also learning something fundamental in these days without school. A lesson that is new and that we had abandoned all curricular requirements, as worried as we were that the cabbages were bilingual and that there was or was not a parental pin. Our children are experiencing an active and determined solidarity capable of changing things to protect the weakest. They know that the problem is the virus, but they feel part of the solution. Because, this time, the elderly are not acting as if nothing could be done. And they will not forget this lesson. They will grow knowing that consciousness can (and should) be connected to action.
In the millennial era we have become citizens capable of sacrificing ourselves for those who previously did it for us
Many workers have locked ourselves up at home to protect our elders and take care of those children whom we are filling with time and meaning. In the millennial era we have become, overnight, citizens capable of sacrificing ourselves for those who previously did it for us. Thus, in this sad stop of the world, we are realizing that we were not traveling alone. Spain is in a state of alarm because we believe that the rhythm of a society is set not only by the one who runs the most, but also the weakest, the most fragile, who cannot even run.
Although not everything has stopped. Many and many are redoubling efforts out there, those who cannot even afford to stay home, to do their best not to get infected.
Thanks to them, the Covid-19 has made an excellent distinction between the value and the price of things. The most valuable are again those who care and those who educate, if we must distinguish between the two. Restrooms and caregivers first; but also truckers, shopkeepers, garbage cans, journalists ... A selection of professions to which we had almost lost respect and of which we now remember their value.
It is impossible to measure the immense sacrifice this country is making. Still, worse times may come. Remember at least that we are going to be caught being better.
You can follow EL PAÍS Opinion on Facebook, Twitter or subscribe here to the Newsletter.