I like it when the week ends with special moments of reunion. This is why I was delighted at the idea of this meal alone with my best friend! The evening was very successful, but it could have started badly …
You have to be very vigilant to drive on a first snowfall evening. Reflexes are not quite sharp. I went slowly and followed a city bus that was obviously having difficulty climbing the slippery climb over the Rockland Viaduct.
I had to change lanes, which obviously did not please the man driving the car behind me. His anger was such that he kept honking and moving closer to my bumper with his full headlights! Hysterical fury!
I had the right to this threat for several streets, until I arrived at my girlfriend’s house. Ten minutes dangerous, stressful and above all, interminable …
The man then froze as well. Was he going out with a baseball bat, a gun? Nowadays, anything is possible! Pure bullying worthy of Duel, by Spielberg. When I was about to dial 911, the car left in a furious acceleration!
While there have always been nuts and bolts behind the wheel, this very dangerous kind of behavior is part of an upsurge in aggression, violence and distress. The world is going very badly …
Manichean climate
Societies have always had their share of paradox and duality between good and evil. The pandemic and probably many other older factors have only exacerbated tensions and created a Manichean climate of unparalleled magnitude.
On the one hand, the qualities of dedication, altruism, generosity, social conscience have never been so present. We have seen it, especially for almost two years. They manifest themselves in hospitals, welfare centers, food banks and even in the daily sacrifices of families and friends to support each other morally. These are all actions and gestures, small, large, modest, whose common denominator is to be exemplary!
I find reassuring and admirable this image of a society which, in the face of adversity, has known how to develop its sense of kindness, adaptation and mutual aid.
But on the other hand, it is with helplessness and amazement that we are witnessing more and more a dehumanization of our society every day. Violence, disrespect, ignorance, stupidity, intolerance, selfishness, rejection of basic values, censorship have never been so pervasive.
How to deal with this paradox? On the one hand, there is the gift of self of an exhausted health professional or a caregiver who goes above and beyond to save the life of his neighbor. Then on the other, the “disconnected” for whom the “scoring” is a simple “game” and where the violence of the Wild West with real bullets is a way of life.
How can we prevent fear from controlling our lives and those of our children? How to prevent a barbaric and bloodthirsty world from winning? “Is this how men live? “*
I dare to believe that it is still possible to make our qualities of society shine collectively so that they take the ascendancy over our faults …
* Poem by Louis Aragon