"We know that, the problem is that there are those who don't want to understand Portuguese !!!"

 "We know that, the problem is that there are those who don't want to understand Portuguese !!!"

Because there are words that will stay forever and will survive us. Survive our fleeting journey through our existence. They would say that “our fate is sad”… “Ten months after the first cases of covid were officially confirmed in Portugal, the Portuguese still do not know the behaviors to follow to prevent the virus and they need a police officer to tell them, the all the time, what they can and cannot do. ”

The reality is that we have been entrusted with the responsibility of knowing how to manage the space given for the Christmas and New Year celebrations. The risks were known. The ways of spreading this virus are known. Behaviors are our individual choice. There is no need to point the finger at the Government for giving us the freedom to celebrate Christmas and for avoiding meddling in the intimacy of families. And now, instead of taking the blame, we blame others! At least that's what it sounds like, hearing widespread criticism of the Government for not being more restrictive at Christmas, imposing, for example, a maximum number of people per household. As Carl Sagan said: "And if the world does not correspond in all aspects to our desires, is it the fault of science or of those who want to impose their desires on the world?"

In my opinion, the Government should have taken more radical measures and not be waiting for a new in-depth assessment of the epidemiological situation. Because with hospitals at risk of rupture, confinement reaps consensus, but there is no need to wait for it to be decreed to limit (now and permanently) our contacts. Prevention works when we take it voluntarily. Everyone has to do their part - for everyone's health, for those who struggle desperately to keep their businesses and jobs, for those who are collapsing mentally, for teachers who sacrifice themselves to ensure fair access for students to school. "Shame is judging that you know everything. Shame is not knowing that you can always know more, it is not being able to repeat with Garcia de Orta that 'what we know [is] a small part of what we ignore'. No man or woman with a scientific background you can say that you undoubtedly know everything! ". The phrase is from scientist Maria de Sousa, who died with covid.)

The worst that can happen to us is that we have a devastating confinement, economically and socially, but without effectiveness in the health emergency. The responsibility is now as ours since the beginning in March 2020. There is no point in prohibiting decrees if we do not strictly comply with the containment measures. We don't need a policeman to watch every home. Not even watching the others. It is enough that we watch ourselves. “There are three methods for gaining wisdom: first, by reflection, which is the most noble; second, by imitation, which is the easiest; and third, from experience, which is the most bitter. ” (Confucius)