Venezuela lives times of anguish, desolation and frustration. There is a set of irrefutable evidence that proves this. As for example: daily insecurity, shortage of food, medicine, spare parts… the high cost of products, low salaries for the vast majority, the accelerated detriment of the public health system, the deterioration of electrical service, the service of Drinking water, the terrible service of public institutions, the extremely high impunity, the very serious public corruption, the incompetence of public servants, urban violence, the exacerbation of political confrontation, the constant deterioration of coexistence…
Perhaps, the list is endless because problems of all kinds are found everywhere, which affect the physical health, emotional and spiritual harmony of the person.
And in the face of this panorama of such dire dimensions for life of personal and community quality, where you can practically survive as you can and at the expense of whatever and whoever, the big question arises: Can I cultivate hope and the ability to dream in the face of so much adversity?
The answer from the pessimistic perspective is a resounding no. And from there, the most powerful energy that humanity can have is destroyed: hope and the ability to dream. Whoever loses hope and the ability to dream becomes a walking corpse, an automaton, because creativity and action immobilizes. Without hope and the ability to dream, man loses the leading role he has in the construction of new realities, because he becomes one of the bunch, he joins the herd to be herded. Without hope and the ability to dream, the passion for life, work, a partner, the country is lost… Control is given to apathy, conformity and mediocrity.
The popular adage that says: "Hope is the last to be lost" is a sentence steeped in wisdom, because as long as one has life, no human being should allow himself to lose hope. Therefore, the debate is presented between two options: the first is to choose and act like walking corpses, without hope, without passion, submerged in conformity and mediocrity. This alternative is that of pessimism. The second is to choose and act as protagonists of history, without losing hope that it can be added in the construction of new realities for the life of all, without discrimination or exclusion.
La segunda opción representa la alternativa del optimismo, donde la adversidad se convierte en espacios de aprendizaje, de crecimiento personal, donde se fortalece la fuerza de voluntad, la disciplina… Es posible que haya que detenerse para darle cabida a la reflexión y auto-interpelación, pero nunca se pierde la esperanza y la capacidad de soñar, siempre se busca y se lucha por encontrar salidas, por alcanzar la luz que con seguridad hay al final del túnel, aunque no se pueda ver.
Choosing and acting assuming the role of protagonists of the story implies asking the following question : what can I and should I do to improve the spaces where there is some control? Those spaces are the family, the place where you work, the social circles you frequent, the neighborhood where you live… From these spaces, with the flame of hope lit and the ability to dream strengthened, you must begin to act. Action makes a difference, because hope and dreams without action vanish into thin air, like cigarette smoke.
Some may wonder , but what is the use of me doing this or that thing, if the rest remains unchanged? The answer is that each human being must assume their responsibility and leading role, since we are part of a system, and as is known, systems are interdependent, interconnected and feed into each other, therefore, what each member does positively or negatively affects the system as a whole. From this point of view, the contribution of each individual is of the utmost importance to give life to the system of which they are a part or to destroy it, thereby self-destructing.
Every human being by nature, due to its peculiar characteristic of being unfinished, which implies a perennial becoming in decision-making and in action, carries with it the flame of hope and the ability to dream, only that on many occasions that flame and that capacity is allowed to turn off, due to routine, comfort, adversity, apathy, ease, mediocrity…
Therefore, that inner strength, that energy that is found in the bowels of each human being, of each Venezuelan, the only person responsible for turning it on is the individual, so that every day, from the spaces that have certain control, act with passion and join in the construction of new realities that develop and reproduce the life of the system of which it is a part.
Venezuela, our great country, implores each citizen on its knees to light the flame of hope, develop the ability to dream, act with passion and perseverance from the family, from work, from the neighborhood… in the construction of a a country where we all fit, without discrimination or exclusion.
