In this world that we have had to live in, it is practically impossible to be happy. When one is not worried about the mortgage bills, he is worried that the child is sick, that he does not have a car like his neighbor or that his mother-in-law makes his life impossible. I stand corrected: it is not that it is impossible to be happy, it is that we insist on not being happy.
Practically everything, if not everything, revolves around money. "Money doesn't buy happiness, especially when there is little of it," we usually say half jokingly and half seriously. The one who earns little is frustrated; the one who earns just enough is also frustrated, and the one who earns much more than enough always wants more. It is impossible to find someone on the street who tells you clearly that he is completely happy, that he is satisfied with the life he has had.
This stupid way we have of complicating things, of never realizing that we have to forget about worldly problems and truly focus on the things that have value and importance, came to me when I learned yesterday of the shocking news that an earthquake had killed thousands of people in Iran.
As if they don't have enough in that territory devastated by the stupidity of man, as if their people haven't suffered from the succession of crazy rulers who have been unable to capitalize on their countless riches, now a punishment from Mother Nature has come upon them, claiming the lives of thousands of innocent people in the city of Bam, most of whom could not have imagined that something like this could have happened to them, and who were surely lamenting something the day before, as we all do.
That is what should truly concern us. The why of things. Is it fair for a person to die crushed by the roof of their home while they are calmly watching television? No, it is not fair, but it happens. Thinking like this, we would discover how important it can be to radically change our attitude towards life and collaborate to humanize a society that is on the verge of complete dehumanization.
Who hasn't noticed how much traditions as important and beautiful as Christmas are changing, in what home on the Island hasn't it been commented that things were very different a few years ago, that there was more joy, who hasn't already heard hundreds of people ranting against these festive days? I think that in almost every house someone will have thought about this question, if they haven't already blurted it out and started a debate that I understand is repeated and will be repeated until things change.
On top of that, and now I change the tone of the writing, we should be grateful to know that the Canary Islands has been and seems to continue to be the Spanish Community with the lowest mortality rate, registering a rate of 710.20 deaths per 100,000 inhabitants. That is to say, in addition to having a unique land, having the most important landscape treasures in the world, possessing an unparalleled climate and an enviable economic situation, it turns out that the Archipelago is where people die the least.
You have to think twice before launching our complaints to the afterlife. Many I know are justified, others not so much. Let's think from time to time about what is happening around us. You already know that they tell of a wise man who one day, so poor and miserable was, that he only sustained himself on some herbs that he picked; "will there be another (he said to himself) poorer and sadder than me?", and it turns out that he found the answer seeing, that another wise man was picking the herbs that he threw away. I think it is a good message to start a new year.
Antonio Pérez Guzmán
