This summer will be remembered for the extreme heat, the fires, and the massacres. But each of us will have our own particular summer, transformed into a refuge for memory. More or less everyone in our first world is now returning to routine. It's noticeable in the streets. We're already connected. Disconnecting, which we did much more when summers were analog, is practically impossible in digital times. Some people tune out the news because it's bad and it affects them. In summer and all year round. Others do it because it doesn't interest them. Everything is permissible. How can you not read books? says a woman who makes videos on social media And it's also news. Because there are those who don't want to know anything but want to know everything about those contemporary gurus who trap them in the social cobwebs. Neither are better at liking to read, nor others worse at spending the day watching TikTok videos. Among other reasons because being better or worse can't be summed up in a weekly article. And I'll leave it here because I prefer to flee, which rhymes with reading, from that topic like I do from the heat.
Wherever you live in the universe, the world is bleeding and the temperature is rising, human stupidity is more visible and more numerous due to statistics and media issues, evil is expressed in its many recognized forms, and hypocrisy is spreading as usual. The mayor of Bilbao, where the Vuelta has passed, is understanding and understands that the city is peacefully protesting against the genocide in Gaza, but he doesn't believe that the protest should be accompanied by uncivil behavior. For some time now, protests have been respected only when they don't cause trouble, and it seems that a protest causes more trouble than a war. But above all, and this is important to remember, we don't mix politics and sports. Never and under any circumstances. It's one thing to ban Russian athletes, and another to ban Israeli ones. Let's see if in the end we won't be able to enjoy sports, that apolitical and civilized invention. And speaking of Russians, Putin and Xi Jinping are apparently talking about...immortality Between one military parade and another. As if the rest of the world expected them to last forever, or as if we wanted to. It should always be remembered that jokes, when they're too long, end up losing their grace. But it's clear that those who take the matter of extending life, at least working life, most seriously are the world leaders, because between Putin and Xi Jinping, who are from the same generation, and Trump, who was a few years ahead, there's no getting around them. And forgive me if this comment sounds like an apology for ageism, far from it. But I say that being a leader should be engaging. Whether you get voted in or not. I'm not jealous because I find it very tiring, and you also have to keep your phone on all night in case they call you, but I understand it has its advantages. For example, this summer the US vice president's team had the Ohio River filled so he could canoe with his family in optimal conditions, although the excuse was safety; as always, the perfect mitigating factor. It's as useful for groping at airports as it is for filling up a river. And President Trump, instead of taking advantage of the opportunity to do some DIY around the house like many people do in the summer, has decided that the right thing to do was paint the border wall with Mexico black, with the goal of raising the temperature of the metal bars. "It'll be so hot they won't even try to cross it."
Yeah, I wouldn't want to end up here either. But there's no more space. These people take up a lot. I'm going to read. Not to be a better person, of course.
