It was only after I came back from an amazing trip to Vietnam this summer and I was telling a friend how much I had enjoyed it and how I had just fallen in love with the country’s exquisite blend of modernity and authenticity, its mix of cosmopolitan touch and specific traditional nuances and colors that I realized I should come back down from my cloud-eleven holiday. Vietnam is beautiful, but I live in one of the best countries in the world.
And Spain being one of the best countries in the world makes this madness of showing off flags and giving out dramatically dense and yet sadly locked-in, narrow-minded, and immovable political speeches all the more absurd and aberrant. The mere fact that the drama-queen tears of a Catalan footballer made it to the headlines of news bulletins around Europe is ridiculous. That footballer maybe leaving Spain’s football team because of what he said on national TV – along with the utter nonsense of professionals actually showing interest in what he had to say on the topic as to allow him precious on-air time – is just bad journalism and definitely not news.
News is the situation where a political party currently in power seeks to capitalize its position of strength by antagonizing prospective voters a little over one year in office and with almost three years left till the next general election, diverting their attention from relevant current issues. News should be the bitter reality of a people that forgets how the same political party currently in power had surprisingly managed to survive an immense corruption scandal during which it had been direly revealed how members in its highest ranks used to cash in monthly cash coming from illegal commissions and plain-sight money laundering of public funds. News is that the same high-ranked members got re-elected. News is the ugly truth that politicians all over the world count on the electorate’s ridiculously short memory and nobody dares to go only three years back, when Catalonia had another referendum organized and there was no violence, no fights to get to vote, no major participation, no conflict, nor any repercussion for that matter.
Take a toddler’s toy and it will start crying; tell a teenager he or she is not allowed to drink and smoke and they will spend their money on booze and cigarettes; tell adult voters in democratic Spain they are not allowed to vote and there you will have the perfect ingredients for a major and gratuitous political conflict.
Of course, that is just stupid. Maybe a toddler or a teenager can’t stop to think for a second whether their lives will get better or worse with or without the momentously denied object of interest. An adult citizen should, though. It goes without saying that being for or against Catalonia’s hypothetical independence does not help Spaniards pay their mortgages or find decent jobs, make their small businesses take off or stagnate, feed their children or offer them better opportunities in life. Walking on the streets of beautiful Madrid wrapped up in a Spanish flag does not keep anyone from having to go back to work on Monday or taking their kids to school nor does it help them make ends meet.
Spain has long hours of sunshine almost all-year long, and one can feel how light literally enters the skin through its pores and makes its way to all the cells that quickly transform it into bliss, joie de vivre, and daily delight. Spain has nice beaches and great food, good wines and cool people to share them with, a rich history and amazing metropolitan cities, modern constructions and talented people who manage to get funding for arts and promoting literature, a language that makes its speakers emotionally wealthy people, a culture that supports tolerance and that zen-like sense of live and let live.
Spain used to be a country where people could not care less who ruled them as long as they could have all of the above and be able to afford nice holidays, have their children have a good start in life, and spend quality time with their loved ones. Spain has been my home for many years now, and that is precisely because I believed it to be a country that learned from past mistakes and was bound not to absurdly let aberrant and stupid confrontation perpetuate into this century.
Unfortunately, it is seemingly that much easier to forget all about that and somewhat just by watching TV, be persuaded that taking one side or the other could make anyone stand a better chance of paying this month’s rent, save up for the next holiday or be able to fulfill one’s hopes and dreams.
Nefelibata 