We should find a word to define the feelings that wash over us when a project we've been involved in for a long time comes to an end. I'd say it's somewhere between emptiness, longing, and regret, with a touch of mourning and a sense of loss.

For some time now, especially in recent months, we've seen news reports indicating that we are entering a new phase of humankind's life on planet Earth. Alarm bells are ringing, indicating that not only had we not anticipated the changes we needed to make in the organization of coexistence, the economy, and politics to be prepared, but now we are also failing to make the urgent decisions to address them.

We take the question Who, if not you? from the slogan with which the esplais movement sought to challenge young leaders at a meeting of educators. The intention was to empower them, to make them aware of their personal responsibility when it comes to educating children in camps and recreation centers. This expression motivates our reflection on World Youth Day, avoiding a negative, even realistic, analysis that lists the difficulties young people face today: working conditions when they work, housing, employability despite the high levels of training they have received, leisure time associated with substance use... We could reflect on so many circumstances that limit them from the opportunities that arise today.

I think we would soon agree that the world, not just Europe, is going through a difficult time. It's not just the shaking of the stock markets, the stagnation of certain conflicts, or a combination of other specific things, but rather a widespread collective mood that has reacted with reasonable calls for hope but also with apocalyptic visions. Popper believed that it's dangerous to aspire to a perfect world, but entirely legitimate to pretend that what we have isn't so imperfect. An open society must embrace the tensions inherent in its complex and heterogeneous nature—its imperfection—otherwise it would cease to be open. In the United States, there has been a heated debate in recent years around issues related to the family model, the scope and limits of the state, migratory flows, etc. We already know the outcome of all this: the clear victory of Donald Trump. The immediate consequences of this victory are also known: the tariff war, for example, is causing a significant financial shock. The most difficult thing to predict, obviously, are the long-term effects of all this. I don't believe in futurology, but I have a certain confidence in foresight, that is, in the reasoned analysis of different future scenarios. In this case, there are at least three.

These days many will make New Year's resolutions. Some will try to go on a diet or join the gym, with the idea of going three times a week, which will end up being only once, if they are lucky. Others will try to make ends meet or perhaps save money, but inflation will eat up some of their good intentions. Many will think about focusing more on the important things and will turn to work or family, in the most difficult balance of the three-ring circus of life. Perhaps, for a few days, most of the well-intentioned will have more balanced lives before the force of inertia takes over. Those who manage to keep their aspirations above the force of routine and mediocrity will be our heroes. Congratulations and admiration to all those who manage to do things differently to those around them, who turn inertia into dust. It will be at the individual level where we can mark the playing field on which we are willing to play the game or, in other words, choose the circus ring where we are willing to hang the trapeze that is ours, whether we are journalists, electricians, teachers or financiers. Citizens, in short.