The Covid of the average Italian

For a few days at least, televisions around the world have been able to take a long, refreshing breath after the interminable coronavirus and lock-down apnea; the American presidential elections occupied the front pages of global information which gave every possible prominence to the historic and tiring victory of Biden and the Democratic Party. A great breath of shared relief, an unprecedented electoral success for the number of voters, a bad page that lasted only one mandate that finally closes. A person at the exact antipodes of his predecessor will sit on the seat of the most powerful man in the world for the next four years.

On migrants, on duties, on global warming as well as on the fight against the pandemic, on relations with European partners and above all with Italy, the new president has very clear ideas: to re-discuss everything ... And sincerely it seems like a excellent premise, at this particular moment it was really needed. Calm, never over the top, with sober elegance, a face marked by time and the misfortunes that accompanied his life but with a kind and authentic expression, Biden personifies the average American, the wise father capable of mediating and to agree with the whole family, the man of the heart but above all of the brain.

Strange, but we seek and sometimes reward in others those qualities of reasoning and balance that we do not expect from ourselves, convinced and more than sure that the responsibilities and duties are always others' and never ours.

By fully applying this firm conviction and punctually evading compliance with the rules, we find ourselves today, one year later, at the exact starting point with respect to the contagion, no one seems to have learned anything from the experience of March except to be less frightened and fearful to the point of verging on indifference or swagger in many cases towards Galopian infections.

The doctors, from heroes, have become infectors and prophets of doom, the collapse emergency rooms are no longer news and even the intensive therapies, however heavily implemented almost completely, do not worry that much.

After the party experience of summer laxity, we have become resistant to the fears of contagion and also the new lockdowns with differentiated bands, do not seem to have touched us that much. What will an unlikely fine ever be given and given the blatant absence of controls?

The sad reality of Covid has allowed us to focus on the exact photograph of the average Italian who, among games, cabals and subterfuges, thinks he can also dribble the virus, convinced that cunning, even in this situation, will be able to prevail . Never before would learning from America be so opportune and wise.

NP Gennaio 2021

Michelangelo Dotta