translated from Spanish: Transcending and making their mark – The Counter

A few days ago I was increlized with thick swear words and fist and hand signs, in sight of dozens of drivers trying to dodge protesters and the tear gas invading the air in a capital corner , when requiring – I’m sure – kindly – the driver of a car that was driving against traffic and who had completely blocked the track, bending to the side and thus allowing the vehicular flow.
At the moment of greater shouting and epitetos by the driver and his companion, both encouraging others to join their out of control, surely because in the absence of a subway, I was walking in a terno and tie, I favored to contain myself and try to serve as facilitator in a moment of high tension for many who were eager to reach their homes, before the rain of stones, the action of graffiti men and the dew of water.
The dialogue took effect and transit managed to be ordered in time.
Later en route home, I began to think about what I lived at that time, what was read and learned through experiences similar to those that occurred in that corner, neighborhood, in our city, even in other latitudes. I remembered well the moment, the place where I was, the noises of sirens, horns, flags flying and thus came to Lech Walesa and the Solidarity Movement; Nelson Mandela and the End of Apartheid; Lyndon B. Johnson and the Civil Rights Act; Heart Aquinas and the People’s Power Revolution.
I noticed that if we carefully review each of these actions and their results, we will see that leaderships have been present to have transcended borders and history, challenging organized groups and rigid structures contrary to any change or modification of the status quo that prevailed at the time.
They are people who overcame their own weaknesses and internal ghosts to negotiate, articulate and work as a team, thus overcoming the obstacles that many around them thought inessusable. They are efforts that added one plus one, recognized not only by their own fellow citizens, but have marked times on different continents, for not inciting or uplining hatred or violence.
The lessons that can be gathered from those leaders and the actions they courageously took to mark the course of the course of their respective countries, invited me to think once if anything in an environment like ours, it is really feasible to achieve definitions that appear to be essential to move forward, such as establishing a single and fierce national soul.
Because these days you’ve noticed a fractured Chili. Impatient. Frustrated. Suspicious.
This is perhaps because we do not have a common recent history, in a territory that presents differences and inequalities with the naked eye. With too many concentrated on mobile devices privileging “likes” or “share” on social networks, without giving it two turns when it comes to distributing fake news or memes that boast of people and situations that are not always completely indifferent. It is also quite possibly because of the actions of organized groups, active and with varying degrees of influence in the street, that express having an absolute truth, without giving possible step to listen or to participate in a fluid dialogue that can alter the realization of their immediate interests or aspirations, thus passing a unique opportunity to demonstrate with concrete facts, that over the years and through experience, we have been able to learn to value ethics, respect and tolerance, dignity, solidarity, duty and responsibility, seeking to put the common good first over unbridled destruction.
I thought that this is how we are presented with a scenario that calls for leadership that really has everything to gain and nothing to lose, so that this can mean in human, paradoric, societal and, least important, in the equation when it comes to assuming necessary to make a difference and make a mark, of power.
 
The content poured into this opinion column is the sole responsibility of its author, and does not necessarily reflect the editorial line or position of El Mostrador.

Original source in Spanish