At this point of the upsurge, there are bets on what they are going to call the new running of the bulls which, they say, is waiting for us just around the corner. Among the euphemisms that seem to me to be most successful are “reverse de-escalation”, “health co-responsibility”, “sustainable socialisation” and “responsible normality”.
It is obvious that we must assume our responsibility as adults in each and every aspect of our lives (not only in health care) but to do so we should have reliable and transparent information, which is what has been stolen from us for years, thus infantilizing society as a whole so that we can treat ourselves as if we were unable to digest the truth or call a spade a spade.
One of the topics that most brings to mind these days for all of us who have school-age children is the return to school. There are centres, at least in Dénia, that have chosen to reduce ratios to the minimum possible, creating three or even four groups where before there were only two. There are others that talk about splitting shifts. There is no clear guideline yet and the fact that this week they have started to look for solutions from the top when there is hardly anything left before 7 September leaves us quite uneasy.
Didn’t they count on a spike in cases? Where’s the “hope for the best, prepare for the worst”? We’re scared. We all are. Mothers, fathers, teachers… I don’t know if we’ve passed it on to the children too, but I’m talking to many of my colleagues and we agree that this summer we’re having trouble getting them out of the house more than usual. However many measures we take.
You have to come back to life, with all the precautions, but you have to live. And a fundamental part of life is teaching and education. Beyond family reconciliation, beyond what we do with the children inside the house. Beyond all this, as important as it is, we must return to life. We cannot bury ourselves in constant fear, in continuous suffering.
Let’s live again, even if that life includes wearing masks all the time, spending never-before-seen amounts of soap and keeping a distance of five feet from people outside our family nucleus. Let’s do it. We can’t leave our existence in permanent suspense. There are people who have already suffered in their flesh from this virus. There are those who have (have) mourned relatives who have left us without being able to say goodbye. Let’s assume our responsibility from the knowledge of that pain and move on.
