NOT JUST ANOTHER NEIGHBOR

Location: Lanzarote Airport (Old Terminal)
Date: 1998
The scene, given by the chance to go to pick up a friend, that I contemplated is the following: The automatic doors opened and a tall old man in suit gets out from the baggage claim area . Suddenly, the spontaneous applause from the people surrounding came "in crescendo". The recent Nobel laureate Mr. José Saramago just arrived in the island.

Let´s think about this:
Lanzarote is an island with about 100,000 inhabitants. Apart from some stationery and magazine shops, there is only one serious library that could be called in such way ("The Bridge", what a great intellectual labor from Norberto, the owner). Therefore, the inhabitants of Lanzarote, mired in an easy state of physical well being, given by the geography and climate of the island, and the economy which provides the "manna" of tourist, are not highlighted by their literary passion (with some exceptions, obviously).

In Eastern Europe the study and intellectual development is an obligation for self-improvement. Without educational and cultural training or knowledge in foreign languages, it is not possible to compete in a labor market which, in this case, is accessed (obviously by the recent history) from an inferior position.
However, in Lanzarote all is peace and tranquility. There haven´t been wars, calamities or repression in the collective memory and work (so far) was easily found. So why study. The few from them that have prepared themselves should be those that guide the blind ("Blindness", José Saramago).

Returning to the airport. What do people clap? People do not applaud the writer, they did not read his books. The people applaud the winner.

Moved by curiosity I bought and read "All the names." I must admit that the intimate story of the obsessed public worker was too deep for my youthful literary taste, closer to adventures such as "Death in the Andes" by Mario Vargas Llosa.
Obviously the literary quality of José Saramago is beyond doubt. What I would like to remind here from the recently deceased writer is his commitment to social and humanitarian matters. Through his works he reflected the problematic society that we live and asked the question "where are we going." From Lanzarote to the rest of the World he was involved in various causes following his convictions, in spite of some (The Catholic Church continues to appear repeatedly in this blog).

Despite the progress in communications we see how we isolate ourselves more from our neighbors and whatever is our point of view, we close ourselves in individualism and refuse to get involved. We don´t realize that the joint action moves the global changes that the future depends on.
That´s why we should always remember his performance as a “Responsible Neighbor".

Rest in peace, Don José.

PD: How many of the last 10 Nobel laureates in Literature do you remember?
It´s better to remind 10 without Nobel prize: Borges, Cortázar, Onetti, Kafka, Zola, Tolstoy, Ibsen, Proust, Joyce and Nabokov. Almost nothing.