We live in a world of constant, changing and renewed crises. It is not at all a catastrophic or a chronically pessimistic vision of which I do not declare myself a militant, but a reality that, far from being feared, we must continue to face as a primary concept of survival.
Economic and political crises generate in turn social crises and are in short a jumble of instabilities that greatly complicate global efforts for peace, understanding, collaboration and respect for national sovereignty.
Logically, these convulsive processes, which seem to be spontaneous explosions given their frequency and variability, are not at all so. While it is true they generate changes, for better or worse, it is also true that there is always someone who benefits from them and turns them into his or her particular project of realization.
If the title of this text refers to Martí, then why start with such reflections that apparently have nothing to do with the Apostle.
The reason is very simple. First, and most importantly, because Martí had the vision to unmask in time one of those sadly famous actors to whom, like no other, certain crises are convenient, to the point of becoming notable promoters of them. Sometimes in an underhanded and hypocritical way but, at the height of the 21st century, with the greatest brazenness and cynicism that anyone could imagine.
The second of these reasons passes through a much more delicate sieve, and becomes, precisely, the essential objective of these reflections.
THE CRISIS OF PARADIGMS
There is a much darker side to the incessant ups and downs of modern societies, which is difficult to observe with the naked eye. It is a slow process, hidden behind the violence, the successions of power or the shakiness of the weakest economies.
It is a problem of multiple manifestations, which harmful consequences drag human beings to the irremissible loss of their essence. The phenomenon is, in turn, both cause and consequence of the lamentable actions of our species and, as if it was not enough, the future is at its core. Children and adolescents are becoming victims of a grotesque and threatening crisis of values, ideology, culture, principles and, to put it mildly, almost the entire immaterial component of the personality and character of the human being.
In other words, these new generations are witnessing what could well be summarized as a crisis of paradigms, referring, of course, to the meaning of the term that points to the example or model of something, according to the dictionary.
This phenomenon has two essential aspects, each one as important and dangerous as the other, if we disregard its impact on the formation of such sensitive segments of our society. And here I would like to stop using the plural. Although ours continues to be a country of peace, with clear ethical and moral principles defined socially, with an educational system designed to build better human beings and not consumerist machines, we are not an isolated atom.
We must recognize that, although we have striven to ensure that the harshness of the times does not rob us of our tenderness, it has made a dent in our value system. Let us add to this that the constant influences of foreign trends in almost all areas of the social environment leave their mark, and that and no other should be our starting point, if we want to realistically face the scope of such problems.
Two dimensions of the phenomenon we were saying and, going back to that line, it is on the one hand the wrong choice made by the younger generations of their paradigms of success, of triumph, of personal fulfillment, chosen from an environment in which superficiality, consumerism, moral degradation, scandals swarm.
On the other hand, and much more important, we, the adults, are called to be those paradigms to which they approach in the first place and that, in not few occasions, we leave much to be desired if it is a question of good examples. The truth is that, in trying to satisfy the material needs that overwhelm us, we forget something essential: to feed their souls.
AN ANTIDOTE TO THE MODEL OF AN ALIENATED MAN
This perhaps too long preamble was necessary to bring up Martí. And it was precisely because it was not in vain that a figure of such high scope, whose responsibilities with the homeland hardly left him space for other matters, dedicated part of his talent, effort, kindness and foresight to children.
Like few figures in Cuban history, politics and literature, there is a wealth of knowledge, human values, ethical and moral principles in his work that constitute a paradigm, if we want to channel them as truly human beings.
In the midst of such tribulations, the era of technological invasion in our lives has come upon us, from ever younger ages and, with it, a much more direct contact with an ecosystem that needs timely differentiations for which, undoubtedly, they are not prepared.
We said that crises of all kinds always benefit someone in the long run, and those who bet on the one that disdains our spiritual component, do so because they know that an alienated being is vulnerable, and they also know that the earlier this state of disconnection is achieved (paradoxically in the era of connections), the easier it will be to manipulate.
In this framework, the fabrication of symbols and the foreignization of thought are imposed as a rule, while the ideological and cultural inheritance of peoples is deconstructed, as a guarantee of the imminent loss of the pillars that sustain them. This is how false paradigms are built, to the detriment of the truly valuable ones.
If this reality surrounds us, if we cannot escape it, how can we face it? Turning to safe references is one way, and there are, in José Martí's legacy, beautiful, sincere and deep words to sensitivity, to perfect from love and patience, from life lessons, tangible and imitable, character and personality.
Modern times are urgent to also cover affective needs, and to superimpose them on the misrepresentation of being, on the erroneous and widely shared matrix that there are flat roads to reach the stars.
Martí is a model, a safe harbor, a path open to reflection, which we must reach first, if we want our children to do so. Let us look for the opportunity to grow among his lines, so that they may grow following the most successful steps we can take. It will not be easy, but it is necessary, even more, essential.
Let us try to let them discover in this universal and imperishable man what he is, an exceptional paradigm for this and all times; but let us not leave it to the spontaneity of the years of inexperience when they still do not have the total capacity to discern. Let us bring it to them, tangible, real, close. There are still many ways to do so, and we have not yet been able to choose them with certainty.
I feel, I know, I am sure that Martí is ready to reinvent himself today, tomorrow. 170 years after his birth, we owe it to him, because we need him to dialogue with the new generations of Cubans, so that, from the most absolute transparency and the untainted righteousness of his character, he can help us save everything that deserves to be saved.
(Taken from Granma)