At 8:30 p.m. in the plenary hall of the Arrecife City Council, with the welcoming words of the Councilor for Festivities, José Alfredo Mendoza, the protocol act of reading the proclamation corresponding to the San Ginés 2020 festivities began.
Miguel Hernández, parish priest of San Ginés, addressed all those present, inviting them to participate in the Eucharist in honor of the Holy Patron. Next, the mayor, Astrid Pérez, made a review of the town crier to whom she thanked for his commitment, also making a call to all the residents of the municipality to comply with the rules indicated by the Ministry of Health so that together we can get out of this pandemic, and thus "next year we can celebrate the San Ginés festivities as we have been doing for so many years."
Benjamín wanted his proclamation to be extended to all the professionals who during the time of confinement and currently continue working so that "together we can defeat Covid-19."
In the plenary hall were present health representatives, the Red Cross, Emerlan, firefighters, hairdressers, supermarket cashiers, Civil Protection, Local Police, Security Consortium, Cáritas, and State Security Forces, among others.
At the end of the reading of the proclamation, Benjamín received a great ovation from the public present. To finish, the mayor presented him with the sculpture of the Puente de las Bolas, symbol of the city of Arrecife.
Proclamation
Destiny and José Alfredo Mendoza, my neighbor in Altavista, wanted me to be the one to read the proclamation of some San Ginés festivities that this year will not be celebrated for reasons known to all.
It took me a while to understand what he was asking me, because, if there are no festivities, it doesn't make much sense to gloss over the figure of San Ginés de Clermont, the holy Bishop who came from France to become the patron saint of Arrecife; nor to review the history of the church, its square or the parish, nor to remember the unforgettable childhood experiences of some festivities that have been suspended this year.
Everything is a bit strange, but I couldn't help but immediately remember that when I was only five years old I arrived in Arrecife with my family from Guatiza, and that my first memory of the festivities was attending the puppet show of Chopito and Chaporro on the wall next to César Manrique's scrap metal, in the Islas Canarias park, a sculpture that I later learned was called Barlovento. I also remember the jolatero regattas in the Charco de San Ginés, the giants and big-heads through the streets of Arrecife, going through the fair and enjoying the bumper cars.
Those were years in which we filled the illusions of an entire week with going to the cinema and, upon leaving, delighting ourselves with a sweet and a glass of Clipper in the La Salud sweet shop, that's more or less what happiness consisted of.
The fact is that since there are no festivities this year, it is better to leave everything for the next one, including the election of another person to read a normal proclamation for normal festivities. Because that is what we all want, to return to our lives and also to our festivities.
But, to see each other next year in San Ginés I have to say that if you take care of yourself, you take care of all of us, because every day we need to perform many gestures that save lives. Small gestures that don't take work, but save lives.
We have to take care of ourselves and we have to take care of others through prevention. This is what we have to do to see each other next year in San Ginés and to be able to enjoy the city's patron saint festivities, prevent, prevent and prevent.
It will be easier for some than for others, but we have to do it.
I do not expect that overnight the more than 63,000 residents of Arrecife will incorporate into their daily lives the dedication and commitment to others that some, as is my case, have been exercising since childhood. Nor that they behave with the spirit of service acquired by those who, like me, started very early, at 12 years old, in the Red Cross Youth.
Since the pandemic broke out and we were confined to our homes, hundreds of volunteers and professionals have turned to this island to guarantee public health and the basic functioning of things for the lives of others.
Therefore, I want to recognize here the dedication and commitment of the medical and health personnel, non-health personnel, men and women of the Red Cross, Civil Protection and Emerlan, members of the Security and Emergency Consortium, Local Police, State Security Forces, Military Emergency Unit, Firefighters, Cáritas and Calor y Café, Supermarket Cashiers, Cleaning Operators, Officials, Gas Station Workers, Taxi Drivers, Hairdressers, Dentists, Pharmacists, Military, Associations and Volunteer Groups, Businessmen, Journalists... I want to recognize here the dedication of everyone.
Also of the anonymous people who stopped us on the street when there was no one on the streets or on the roads to give us a package of gloves or masks in the first days of confusion and hardship, or a lady who called us by phone so that we would please stop by her house to pick up the cloth masks that she had made to protect us, I have seen a lot of solidarity.
I have seen the best that people carry inside during these last months, with more force and in more quantity as I had not seen in a lifetime dedicated to emergencies, to first assistance, nor in all the years that I have dedicated to training and teaching in these matters.
It is true that the coronavirus caught us unprepared and overwhelmed us, but it is also true that people have lived up to the task, have complied and are complying. Also the young people, many of whom were already affected by the 2008 crisis and who have now seen their desire to live and their desire for freedom limited because they have to comply with health measures.
We are seeing how young people are being asked to behave and keep the elderly in mind. But I'm not so sure, because, for me, young people are doing well, because what I see is that it is one of the most concerned and aware groups, a group that wants to be trained and that does not stop asking.
Therefore, I don't have to say anything different to young people than to others, if you take care of yourself, you take care of all of us.
Meanwhile, I don't get tired of teaching how to put on and take off a mask properly so that it is used whenever necessary. Also to wash your hands well, remembering that you have to do it thoroughly and frequently. And repeat and repeat that maintaining physical distance has to be our day to day, even if we get tired of hearing it.
Right now, in September we have the return to school and it is going to be a trial by fire for teachers, students, non-teaching staff and mothers and fathers. In reality, it is going to be a trial by fire for the whole society, because the coronavirus is going to put us to the test without distinguishing one from another, all the more reason to take extreme precautions.
I confess that I have a lot of respect for covid-19, but it reassures me to know that here, in Lanzarote and La Graciosa, an extraordinary job of prevention and control is being done, and I am confident that science will offer us a remedy soon.
And, although humans are creatures of habit, and we bring many bad habits from the past, such as individualism and lack of solidarity, I also do not lose hope that a better world will emerge from this pandemic.
Friends, I don't want to be heavy, but prevention is everyone's job, and by preventing we will get rid of these festivities next year without having to miss or mourn a single one of us! Take care! Thank you very much.
