NewsEuropeGlory and mercy in times of uncertainty

Glory and mercy in times of uncertainty

Prices are rising, there is a war in Eastern Europe, political tensions are growing everywhere, the high temperatures of last summer confirm that nature is wounded and that climate change is not that pipe dream that was always going to happen later, more late, in the distant future. Things are not going well. “Nothing truly great in the human sense—really great, that is, capable of affecting a great number of lives—comes from reflection,” Joseph Conrad wrote in a familiar preface he placed before him. its personal chronicle, where he gathered a handful of texts in which he recalled some episodes of his life. He considered, in these lines, that “it is preferable that humanity be impressionable rather than reflective”, and then he referred to the power of words, “words such as Glory, for example, or Mercy”. And he added: “I will not mention any more.”

He simply left them there, as if hanging from a branch, without giving further explanations. It is uncomfortable to hear such a resounding statement from Conrad —that nothing truly great has been done thanks to reflection— in these times when populism uses people’s emotions in such a sneaky way to post messages about the greatness of their own and hatred against their enemies. It is very strange that Conrad wanted to claim this kind of irrationality as the proper way to do important things. He surely thought, rather, that there is no way to bring the best projects to fruition only with the cold light of reason, that it is always necessary that they manage to touch people’s hearts.

With arguments and explanations and with the subtle maneuvers of intelligence, not everyone is always reached. That is why politicians are obsessed with finding the most effective words to seduce more people and incorporate them into their projects. The power of words, that’s what Conrad said. And they are even more necessary in a mass society: as a claim, as a slogan, as a promise, as an anxiolytic.

Conrad jotted down two of them. if he chose glory I wouldn’t do it for those jerks who want to get it just by shining in the windows of the entertainment society, eager to get some fame. As a man of the sea, he would rather associate glory with that obtained by those who have the guts to face the worst of a storm and who fight to the end to reach port when everything seemed lost. He would even take into account the glory of failure, that of having persevered in goals that foundered, but for which he fought with greatness and without resorting to cheating or bribery. For what he touches piety, perhaps it serves to recognize in the other that we are made of the same material and all sentenced to be nothing more than dust. Glory and piety have something ancient. Perhaps today we would say that glory belongs to those who struggle with a little decency and by mercy we would understand the desire to want to be in solidarity with others. The European Union has not always known how to connect, too friendly to reason as a cornerstone. But in these tough times, you should listen to Conrad and take back the nobler challenges of what is still a great project.

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Source: EL PAIS

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