By Agustín Pérez Cerrada
“Today we must sow the soil / to bear fruit tomorrow,” are the first two verses of the inviting song of John Ray, with this same title.
As citizens, we care as much about the present that we are living as the future we dream about; both from the point of view of personal life, and from the perspective of the society that will welcome us in that future. We know that the actions of the present lead us to the future; but not all things are in our hands. Having embarked in the national ship, it is absolutely necessary to know those who carry or will take the helm, and the course that the ship will follow in the stormy sea of the economic crisis and, above all, the moral and social crisis that we are living. Here, everyone can contribute something. The road is long and also affects the family, since we do not live isolated.
Thinking about our actions or omissions in the present, brings me the memory of Frank Capra’s excellent film “How Beautiful It Is to Live!”, and the scene of such a movie in which the Guardian Angel starting (James Stewart) makes him watch the film of the life that he would have happened had he not intervened. Perhaps our actions are not as relevant as the protagonist of the film, but certainly contribute to forge the future, at least in the immediate environment.
In politics, promises are made, new realities are sought thinking more of the political parties than the reality they are facing. There is an effort to differentiate, to mark ideological borders, and even to annihilate the opposition. Some party spokesmen tell us about change, and it is not surprising that this is so, since the rhythms of life and human activity are already marking and imposing on events: we see it every day. Another thing is that the terms of that proposed change are not defined, or where they are actually headed after the apparent utopia; and another thing is that these proposals dissolve the existing reality. Every change has its starting point and its point of arrival: immediacy is a hurricane that sweeps everywhere it passes through.
Politicians give us short goals, and even these, often, are presented as solvents either of the current state of society, or of the unity of the nation. The subjection of the decisions of the public management to the political line of the party that dictates them, distorts the common good. On occasion it will be said that the interests of economic or pressure groups are being fought, but the result is that there are too many partisan interests that affect the final result; or, in other words, that these decisions are about gaining the power to impose the social change they pursue.
Faced with these proposals for change, the question is: What kind of country do we want to leave our children, who will succeed us? This question, the same one we sometimes ask in relation to the environment, since in this field the response to human action on the landscape is directly seen, we can also do it – as an exercise of intergenerational responsibility – in relation to the Integrity of the country, the quality of work, or the values in which our descendants are educated.
In public life there is a perceived lack of harmony for large social and political projects, and, on the contrary, the search for immediate interest is seen. There is no dialogue, no agreements, no matter how costly they may be, and you live in competition. Power is what is pursued, and not the general interest that everyone claims to seek. Therefore, because we care about the present and the future, it is prudent to know the quality of the percale they want to sell us, looking for reality under flowery words. It said at the beginning that the actions of the present lead us to the future; I now add that omissions or neglect also contribute to our future, in which others will do what we do won’t do.
