We import what we want, what suits us. Let no one be offended: last week I put on glitter makeup to accompany my children in that turra that they have taken to copying from the movies - where else have they not seen it before - and I took them trick-or-treating for Halloween. All wrong, let's be honest. Neither candy is recommended in those huge quantities nor do our dead deserve that celebration party full of pumpkins, toads and snakes, but we went through the hoops. All, without exception. Because I saw languid faces, of resigned fathers and mothers, but there we all were. This weekend there have been more celebrations of this style and the one that comes next threatens to extend a party that gives good results, above all, to bars, restaurants and multi-price bazaars thanks to which, at this point in the game, I have tutus black and bad witch hats to dress an infantry regiment. Anyway.
I was complaining about this imported party taking advantage of this window to the world because it surprises me how there are so many wonderful things that others do that we don't emulate. For example, working on our collective memory, as they do so well in Germany. Read Enrique Bolland, who toured the Alicante Civil War shelters a few days ago, and realize how much we need to go into those underground to better understand those who these days in Ukraine or Gaza are crying inconsolably for the life they are losing. Bolland proposes incorporating the activity into the school calendar, and I add that families should find space for it between all the children's concerts and birthdays in ball parks. There will be some free minutes.
In Valencia, the air raid shelter, built in 1938 to protect children and one of the 41 public shelters that came to be in use since the summer of 1937 due to the bombings of the Spanish Civil War, has also reopened. I am not writing it to convince anyone of the importance of going, which it is, since I will be the first one who will have a hard time finding space between slides and piñatas, but to show that choosing is also military.
If you didn't go to the Halloween party out of conviction, if you don't give your child a cell phone before the age of 16 because you believe so and you defend it, if you shoehorn the cultural visit into your home's recreational-festive calendar, You may be the weird one, but you will also be the consistent one. And of these, unfortunately, there are very few left.
It's difficult to stay on the sidelines, but you have to try if it identifies you and does you good. Being part of the crowd makes us feel comfortable, safe, but does it make us happy? As I fix the witch hat, I celebrate those who will not wear it. All my admiration.
