La Voz de Galicia – November 17, 2023 →
At times, when I read the newspaper, I surprise myself by looking for good news. I take a general look, and then I go directly to the news that I know to be kind, that I know I can stand at that moment. Because these times in which we live are so complex that it is difficult to remain informed without falling into a kind of infinite sadness, a kind of constant unease. And I realize that sometimes I do the same with the people around me. There are days where I can only find strength to talk to those who make me feel good and avoid having contact with other people so that I simply don’t have to deal with the lack of kindness, or the lack of empathy, that reigns in contemporary society. Because the truth is that each day we are less kind, or we have less patience, or we are more violent, or we stand others less. And unfortunately, negative traits are as–or are even more–contagious than positive ones, and when one knows that it is likely that things will fall on the side that does no good (the dark side), one has to double one’s effort to keep oneself (to continue with the Starwars metaphor) on the luminous side. But keeping oneself on this side requires a constant commitment to the notion that we all have the capacity to do good all around us, that we can all be better people, that we all can be contagious with kindness and empathy instead of with hate and agitation. But how difficult it is sometimes not to fall on the dark side, not to be carried away by envy, avarice, ire, arrogance, and hate…especially when all the news that is offered to us daily are infested precisely with that. And how difficult it is as well to feel the hope of which we are all capable of redirecting ourselves to that luminous side before it is too late…
