Periodically, over the space of a few generations, societies have to revalidate the foundations bequeathed by tradition, and they do not do so until they go through the very same crises that led to the need for their establishment. The objective, to pacify understandings and avoid new crises, is achieved only until those who have kept it in their memory die, or not at all. History, in this respect, only demonstrates its failure to a few intellectuals.
The Writer Whose Life Is Involuntarily Invaded…
Despite the general recommendation, the writer whose life is involuntarily invaded and disturbed by politics has not the right, but the duty to insert politics into his literary work. This is, in short, an obligation to future generations, to whom he must pass on the flavor of his personal experience. Not to do so is to deny oneself. A political prisoner, then, even if he is against it, has lost the right to remain silent about the oppression he has suffered, and it is precisely he who has the mission of giving the lines a political flavor, because it is precisely he who has the the support of a circumstance that all the others don’t have.
It Is True That Study Often Uncovers…
It is true that study often uncovers the complexity of subjects that the average man does not even suspect are complex. This discovery, however, although it may rightly call for caution, should never have a paralyzing effect on the mind, which will ultimately have to decide. The same skepticism used by some as an inductive tool for the best choice is used by others as a shield—a very effective one—for an innate inability to choose.
There Is Always Something Very Positive…
There is always something very positive about these extreme and unavoidable situations that force a decision to be made. First of all, they reveal courage and cowardice in the face of the need to decide; then, and above all, the priorities, which if they were masked before for whatever reason, can now no longer be camouflaged, and the previous cunning or indecision suddenly disappear, taking the place of an unequivocal and unavoidable choice that is imposed, foreshadowing the consequences it will entail.