From the living room of my house I hear the mundane noise.
He enters from the street through the balcony and with the TV on, which does not stop his rattle. I imagine that I look, and I see the war in Ukraine in front of me. The barbarism of the 21st century. The siren songs or the political Edens that they give to the ear are not worth or comfort, to distract, but they do not mitigate the evils. And I think without equivocation: What a shitty world! Then I ask myself: Isn’t there something or someone on the whole planet capable of ending that war? Although it seems incredible there is no way. But if there is, there is also a lack of will to stop barbarism. What is happening? As usual! Selfishness, dirty interests, or the cruel arms business. It seems there is no way to stop Putin. Does no one in the world know how or can? Ah, the game of him displaying atomic weapons! And millions of silent accomplices as mute, ideological neurons of radical vision, but at the same time rehearsing blindness. I can’t believe it… Where are the brave people who say no to war today? At least they could shout yes to peace. And diplomacy? That thing as wonderful as useless. Or so it seems. Because in the whole world nobody and nothing is capable of ordering Putin to stop. I’m not saying it for me, bordering on ninety. It is for my daughters and my grandsons and granddaughters. Also for yours, kind readers: What world shit are we going to leave you? What have we done wrong? And what is here, what is ours as always, bad and dangerous is the panorama, the work of political demons, deliberately ignorant of why the war broke out in 1936. Today there is not a rebel general; because a young democracy has been constituted, and rapists willing to outrage it. This country… Scandal, scandal! Is there anyone out there, in his right mind, who dares with such a bunch of political garbage? Ahead, the war in Ukraine continues.
Luis Buisan Villacampa ZARAGOZA
thank you and more thank you
When the headache subsides, I have to invent a word, because ‘thank you’ has outgrown me. In this gray December, we have had the warmest hugs from all those who already knew that they love us. On a daily basis, we fail to take the time to listen to how much we love each other. Excuse us please. When last Tuesday, December 6, we received the worst call of our lives, from that moment on and without ceasing, we have been wrapped by so many hands, fed with shared tears, covered by words of comfort and lending ourselves so many hearts that we have stayed with small the word ‘thank you’. We celebrated a first farewell in Iowa together with our beloved shared Pratt-Walters family; thanks to the STS organization, and to all of Interway and, above all, thanks to Francisco Ferrán from Irizar, for his generous availability and his tenderness on this round trip. They celebrated in his memory, the same day we returned home, a mass in the church of El Portillo, thanks to Santiago Sánchez Jorcano and Mari Carmen García, for their availability and the care of his light. The celebration at his school, in Marianistas de Zaragoza, with so many kisses inside and outside the church, because there was no room for it, was the greatest act of love we have ever attended. Special thanks to Father Pedro and to the entire Marianist community. We also celebrated a mass in Quinto, to remember his summers, his camps, and to be thankful that the seeds of his childhood germinated in the best soil. Thanks to those who gave me life and taught me to give it. Thanks, parents. To those who lent me the person I chose to give life. To the brothers and sisters who shared his childhood and to the brothers and sisters who joined him later. To those who bought a star forever. To the family that I saw at birth, to the one that grows and to the one that I love as if it were. To the friends from all stages of our lives who surround us with their hugs and I always know where they are. To my Brotherhood. To the companions of each dawn that we breathe the same days. To the children, to the wonderful fifteen-year-olds who are friends with our children, Yago and Gracia. Since I still haven’t been able to invent another word… thank you and more thank you.
Regina Martinez and Jose Ramon Garin Zaragoza
Coherence
It is said that the importance of what we say lies in its coherence. It has to sound good so that the mind is not surprised by what it hears. Especially in tense times, like war, where all news is under suspicion. In this our Spain we are not in a material war but a dialectical one. As an example, the growing mess in Catalonia has managed to pacify the situation. There are no more rowdies or roadblocks or acts of vandalism. The rich are railed against by some politicians who do not consider themselves as such despite the fact that there are plenty of coupled characters who double their succulent incomes in their homes. There was a time when the Andalusian sing-song was that the just paid for sinners, an excellent phrase from which we have not been able to deduce who they were. Judges no longer have the moral authority to judge, since they are colonized by fascism. We Aragonese have to believe that our president has reconsidered in privacy and renounced his proclamations without having been influenced by that so common among sports coaches that “you don’t get hot, you don’t go out.” It is also not to be dismissed the belief that Seville is depopulating at supersonic space speed and that is why the corresponding Agency is awarded: Teruel, overpopulated. All of this sounds like virtual reality, a metaverse? Unfortunately not: pure and hard reality. Let’s hope that the next polls will bring order to the mess.
Francisco Alós Barduzal
ZARAGOZA
Corruption in the European Parliament
bring the rubbish to the surface in the European Parliament. If we consider that what is seen is the tip of the iceberg, may God catch us confessed. Everything in the hands of the so-called lobis, who spread to support some rules or others, and hugging the deputies. Nor is it very surprising if we consider that the European Parliament is an elephant graveyard where they send those who do not know what to do with them, in payment for services (or favors) rendered. And these are supposed to be the ones that have to protect us from the misrule that we have. I am not surprised by the nudges that are given to enter politics, between big salaries (which in the labor market would not be worth even for the base salary) and rackets, this is Jauja. And our concern is the elimination of Spain from the World Cup, when at the rate we are taking they are going to eliminate us from the world. What they said about living better against Franco is going to be true.
Mariano Martinez Beltran
GALLUR