Wakes up!

The state of a person who demonstrates limited reactivity towards the surrounding environment and does not react to stimuli is called "sleepwalking". A clear and precise image chosen by Censis to define the current state of our country. For the research institute, Italians are sleepwalkers, incapable of imagining a different future, crushed by fears: of war, of climate change, of the loss of well-being. All legitimate, but there is a but. It is as if we relied on a sort of magical thinking, of inevitability, cradling us in an uncertain present that does not want to deal with the future in any way. «Some economic and social processes that are largely predictable in their effects – the researchers write – seem removed from the country's collective agenda, or in any case underestimated, although their impact will be disruptive for the stability of the system».

An example, the demographic crisis. In 2040, only 25% of couples will have children. Likewise, nearly 10 million households (37%) will consist of just one person. The scenario of the following ten years is no better. In 2050, 34.5% of the population will be made up of elderly people (today they are 24%), with a jump of +4.6 million people. This means that 8 million people of working age and 4 and a half million residents will be missing. Translated, less wealth, most likely less revenue for the State, with the risk of a short circuit. For public health alone, 177 billion euros would be needed compared to the current 131. Not to mention the pension needs. Who will take on these commitments? Will we have to give up hard-won rights? Rethink new models?

Decisive questions that we should start answering today. At all levels. Because the challenge is enormous, complex, perhaps with answers not yet defined, but with a fixed point: the challenge is certain, not hypothetical. We shouldn't sleep at night to think about the Italy to come, to discuss concretely and without dogmatism the welfare of tomorrow, the migratory flows necessary to cover many gaps, the tools to bind the endemic loneliness that will mark our society even more, the ideal for nurturing a mentality that leaves no one behind.

Yet, again according to Censis, eight out of ten Italians are convinced that the country is "irremediably in decline". And so it is fear that dictates the agenda, that takes for granted a future with a crazy climate , marked by an irreversible economic and social crisis, with widespread poverty and violence.

History, however, is not already written, it is in our hands, it can change with our creativity, our commitment, our dreams, those which however are made while awake. Let's get busy, without drama, without exasperation, in a constructive way. Having clear the teaching of that sage who said: "A ringing alarm clock doesn't accuse you of having slept, it simply tells you that the time has come to get up". Let's do it!


Matteo Spicuglia
NP March 2024>/p>