Year of Nostalgia

The beginning of the new year has been a bit darker in Lanzarote, since in addition to facing the ghosts of the economic crisis, which almost all experts point out will worsen in the coming months, the island has ...

The beginning of the new year has been a bit darker in Lanzarote, since in addition to facing the ghosts of the economic crisis, which almost all experts point out will worsen in the coming months, the island has started 2009 saying goodbye to people as significant as Nicolás de Páiz. The former president of the Cabildo passed away this week, leaving a mark of pain not only on his family, but on a good part of the island.

Faced with the death of someone, it is common to dedicate the best words to them and for almost everyone to forget what they disliked and keep the best of the deceased. But in the case of Nicolás de Páiz, the truth is that even in life, it was difficult to find someone who had a bad word to refer to him.

Both his colleagues and those who were once political rivals are full of praise for this man, of whom the majority highlight his honesty and his ability to seek agreements and consensus. A politician "of the old school", who undoubtedly managed to do important things when he was at the head of the Cabildo, despite the fact that in those years the economic reality of the Corporation and the island was very different from what was experienced later.

Therefore, after seeing how subsequent legislatures of inactivity and lack of concrete projects have passed, the stage in which De Páiz had the reins of the island's main institution in his hands becomes even more valuable.

But his death has not been the only one. Illness and the road have also taken other loved ones from the island in recent weeks, such as two well-known businessmen. These are voids that are reaching Lanzarote, opening doors to nostalgia. Nostalgia for those who leave, but also for the times they represent. Of times when, if not everything, at least many things did seem better. Times when hard work, desire and imagination could be enough to build a prosperous future. Times when the democratic transition brought out politicians more marked by ideals than by love for an armchair. Times when, at least in Lanzarote, a New Year's Eve did not end with the intervention of riot police at the doors of a nightclub.

As if that were not enough, 2009 will also serve to say goodbye to a mythical school, as reflected this week in the pages of La Voz de Lanzarote. The Dominicans are leaving the island, giving way to other religious women, and putting an end to decades marked by the presence of this educational center, which has trained several generations of women from Lanzarote. From singers like Rosana, not very inclined to be seen around her island, to politicians like the Minister of Tourism of the Government of the Canary Islands, businesswomen or university professors, who fondly remember that stage.

Without a doubt, 2009 starts with nostalgia. And of course, with melancholy also from just a few months ago, perhaps a little more than a year, when pockets had another joy. When getting paid at the beginning of the month was not an event. When one did not go to bed thinking about whether they would manage to keep their job or whether the company they founded with so much care would survive the crisis.

Therefore, perhaps now is the time to remember those who are no longer here. Those who, in another economic reality, when Lanzarote had not yet gone through its take-off, managed to do important things. Now is the time to demonstrate that citizens, in addition to being carried away by the inertia of a favorable economic situation, also know how to swim against the current and forge their own good times, to contradict the pessimistic omens for this 2009 that, after all, may not be so bad.