They say a picture is worth a thousand words.
This image, without a doubt, perfectly sums up the consequences of the madness we are experiencing in these weeks.
It is the image of emptiness and loneliness. But also of indolence and selfishness.
Taken on March 19 at the Coles supermarket in Port Melbourne, Australia, it was published by journalist Seb Costello . In it we see an elderly lady in the canning aisle. Empty for panic purchases unleashed in recent days due to the coronavirus. The reporter states that some tears escaped the elderly lady.
Panic buying, however, is just the tip of the iceberg. An iceberg as deep as life itself and stratified like our social classes.
This picture shows us that, although the coronavirus does not mean social classes, those who manage the situation, they do, differ by social class. Differences that were barely bearable before are now a slap in the face of sensitivity. Differences that in these times - more than ever - can make the difference between life and death. Literally.
It is also the image of vulnerability. Of those who have been left behind. The last in line. Those that no one takes into consideration because they have already given everything they had and have lost their "social value". Those who become invisible. That they almost have to ask for forgiveness to exist. Those who only ask us to remember them. Even just from time to time. And they don't even want us to help them, just don't make things more complicated for them.
This - and other images - will go down in the annals of history. To remind us of what society as a whole did not want to see. To finally give visibility to the invisible. Although it may be too late for many of them.
The deaf denunciation of those who have lost their voices
This image is also a deaf complaint. It is an accusatory finger that forces the system - and each of us - to face our conscience. It is a cry that tells us that we have taken the wrong path.
The image is the reflection of a society too full of itself . Too busy. Too alienated. It is the picture that damages the image of companies and governments, because it reminds them that, even if they do not want to and resist, they have an inalienable social obligation.
It is also the image of states letting their elders die in residences. Of aid decreed for the vulnerable who end up getting lost in the maze of bureaucracy. It is the image of institutions and countries that have forgotten solidarity and have opted for "save whoever can". Of those who have closed the door in the face of Italy and the Italians, leaving them completely alone and abandoned to their fate, feeding the futile hope that it would not have touched them too.
Because - fortunately or unfortunately - there is nothing like extreme situations to bring out truths that would otherwise have remained buried behind sweetened words and empty gestures. In these situations, who we are and what we are worth comes to light - as people and as a society.
This picture, in short, tells us from the thunderous silence of those left without a voice that this pandemic will pass, but the consequences of our reactions and decisions will remain.
The fear will pass. The danger will remain only a memory. The doors will finally open. We will fill the streets again. But our behaviors will accompany us - in one way or another. And we will be able to feel proud of a gesture of responsibility, solidarity and humanity. Proud of the person we were in that moment and the person we have become.
At some point, when the collection of the broken pieces begins, those images will come back. We will remember every delay, every superfluous debate, every bureaucratic obstacle that has cost lives and caused suffering. We will remember everything we might have done and didn't. Any act of irresponsibility, folly and selfishness.
For now, as Paolo Giordano said, we have nothing to do but stay at home for as long as necessary. Take care of the sick. Cry those who are gone. But we can already imagine the after. And maybe - just maybe - with this image in mind and sensing other much harder ones, we can now correct what our future "I" will claim from us.
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