Nearly two months have passed since an earthquake measuring 7.8 on the Ritcher scale struck several provinces in southeastern Turkey and northwestern Syria on February 6, leaving 53,000 dead and 24 million people affected. In the aftermath of the quake, rescue teams from around the world moved into the area to assist in the search for survivors.
For several days, we witnessed in real time some moving images: among waves of corpses, news emerged of the discovery of people -most of them children- who were rescued alive from under the rubble. It was moving to see firefighters and volunteers applauding and crying with happiness as they kissed the little ones who were being passed from one arm to another, along a human chain that brought them back to the light.
I admit that during that week I watched those videos on loop and that I was also moved to tears contemplating that miracle of life. It came to my mind what I had already considered on other occasions: the wonderful paradox of the human being, who, being fragile and vulnerable, exposed to the onslaught of nature, nevertheless continues to fight in an almost obstinate struggle for survival.
In the days following the earthquake, in Spain we witnessed another "fight". It was an ideological battle in the parliamentary seat, where laws were passed that have more to do with ideological imposition than with the common good. And while some are determined to propagate the throwaway culture, so strongly denounced by Pope Francis, falsely disguising it as "free self-determination", under an amalgam of ruins and dust man continues to show us that - in spite of everything - he is a being for life.
