The one who gets tired, must rest to continue later. It is not possible to perform any task without even stopping to rest and improve in that free space what is being done. And those who do not do so, believing they are eating it up, end up getting nowhere. The following story I recently came across, whose name I am borrowing for this note, illustrates this statement to a great extent. I recommend reading it in its entirety for further reflection:
"In Canada every year a world lumberjack championship is held. A number of trials are held until at the end of them all there are only 2 left to compete for the first place on a certain occasion. At the end of the preliminaries were the representative of Canada and Norway. The final test consisted of cutting down most of the trees in a forest specially designed and approved for this purpose. It was to begin at 10:00 in the morning. It would end at 2:00 in the afternoon. Then at 10:00 a.m. the grand finale began, with each one felling in his own sector. After 1 hour, the Norwegian representative stopped. The Canadian took advantage of this pause to overtake his opponent. After 10 minutes, the Canadian heard the Norwegian start his task again and he continued. Another hour passed and again the Norwegian stopped. The Canadian took advantage of his opponent's pause to overtake him. And he kept on felling harder. After 10 minutes, the Norwegian resumed his work. So they spent the afternoon. The Norwegian stopped every hour for 10 minutes, while the Canadian continued without stopping. What's more, when the Norwegian stopped, he picked up the pace to get a head start on the Norwegian at the end of the tough competition. The Canadian was sure of his victory, as he had never stopped. He thought that in the moments when the Norwegian stopped, he had taken the advantage that would give him the victory. Great was his surprise when the winner was announced, as the Norwegian was proclaimed champion of the tournament. The Canadian approached the Norwegian and asked, how did you do it if I heard that every hour you stopped for 10 minutes while I went on with my work? The Norwegian replied, it's very simple in those 10 minutes. I was sharpening my axe while you continued without stopping. My question to you is, how long has it been since you stopped to sharpen your axe?..." (see in Spanish the full story "The importance of sharpening the axe", in https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:7167192006799118336/).
The phrase "sharpening the axe" can mean many things in different contexts and situations, especially when the task is very long. But I like the simile because it somehow conveys staying sharp in order to win, especially when facing an enemy that won't stop. And the question here is the same as in history: for how long have we not stopped to "sharpen" our "axe", to continue the fight against this regime? Or maybe we have never stopped?
Some of you will tell me with a roar: "We can't stop! The regime will deepen its destructive actions if we do! And that might be true, as it has done in 25 years in power. But we have not defeated it. It is ahead of us because we have not stopped to "sharpen the axe"... And the logical question next should be, "And what would it be for you to sharpen the axe?"
Since this tyranny began 25 years ago, it has always been ahead of the opposition for multiple reasons, but the most important in my opinion, is that it has had the strategic support and know-how of countries whose main export product is the soft technology necessary to remain in power. That is, the control of dissidence, persecution, torture, infiltration of the opposition, the use of state money to buy consciences, the use of the best available technologies to follow and know the weaknesses of the opposition leadership. And those who are not susceptible to these techniques, are simply broken through their own family or assassin, in the best mafia style.
In the midst of the struggle of 2014 I asked myself exactly the same question, because what we have in front of us IS A MORAL STRUGGLE The opposition model is exhausted and a new one must be found. From where? Well, from the people...
I always remember the phrase of the late actor, Sir Sean Connery in the role of an experienced old cop, in the extraordinary movie "The Untouchables", when Kevin Costner in the role of Elliot Ness, having thrown in the towel with the corrupt police asked him "and where do we get the cops if they are all corrupt...?" And Sir Connery answered the question with another one: "and where do you look for the apples before they rot? Pluck them from the same tree, from the Police Academy". In other words, look for them where they are born. The same should apply here: where do we get the politicians if they have all been corrupted? From the tree where they are born, from the places of genuine participation of the people: from the Citizens' Assemblies, from the Associations of Concerned Neighbors, from the civil society organizations that come forward with a genuine vocation to help.
If there is already a candidate who has demonstrated her determination to fight to the end, should she listen to those who were responsible for continuing to cut down trees with a dull axe and without grinding, because in one way or another they were committed to the regime to keep things the way they are? Or should she stop and grind those who without having any "straw tail" would be willing to sharpen theirs to continue in the next phase? You can bet that many of those parties that claim to "support" the candidate's triumph, if not most, are actively and quietly working for the failure of the one who does not want to bend. We have to think about that because this game is not over yet.
Those of us who have proposed alternatives to the possible closing of roads of a tyranny that confident in its soft technology pretends to remain in power, do so in the certainty that sooner or later the country will need the summoning of the Original Power, not only for the institutional Refoundation of the Nation, but also to give the country the opportunity to return to the values that made us an independent Republic, and to which it is impossible to return with a social body whose leadership is corrupt in its great majority. This moral struggle will continue despite the fact that we want to ignore that there is also -and we do not want to use- a very well sharpened constituent axe...
Caracas, March 3, 2024
Blog:
TIC’s & Derechos Humanos, https://ticsddhh.blogspot.com/
Email: luismanuel.aguana@gmail.com
Twitter:@laguana
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