I will share some thoughts urged by the tragic event of the train collision in Tempi.
For years now we have been witnessing insufficient government and state work, regardless of which party is in office.
And we say: We sympathise with the victims, we are shocked, we commiserate, we participate and then our contribution ends. And after a short while comes another tragic event, and another and another… And we start all over again… At some point, however, it could be our friend, out partner, our child… I shudder at the mere thought. And this is where the question comes in. Is our conscience clear? What is our responsibility? Because you cannot tell me that we do not share some responsibility. From the moment we become AWARE that something is not working properly in our collective space/time, we are automatically rendered responsible if we do not do something. You may ask: through which collectivity should we act? We have rendered every CO- prefix an empty word (void of meaning). Yet, the fact that we do not know how to act and instead we awkwardly simply observe the events, does not relieve us of our responsibilities. We must FIND THE WAY. Imagine 1000 people camping outside the Ministry of Transportation, and every day these 1000 alternate with another 1000 that demand for the safety measures to be implemented!!! Does it seem naïve or utopian? I don’t know… I shun before our power and also our ineptitude.
And Iphigenia’s sacrifice comes to mind. What does the myth tell us? That the leader –the person responsible – must sacrifice something very precious, personal in order to lead a collective task. This alone makes him responsible towards that for which he is accountable, especially if it concerns society as a whole, and thus, the task begins. And what does this sacrifice mean? Commitment, work, effort, pain, struggle, conscientiousness, a price, but also the pleasure of doing your job. Wherever there is responsibility, there is also a price to pay if you do not accept it.
The imperative question that remains to be answered is whether catharsis will ensue or not. Will the trauma continue being endlessly perpetuated?
