Dear Students,
"The scourge is not commensurate with man, so we are told that the scourge is unreal, it is a bad dream that will pass. But it does not always pass, and from bad dream to bad dream it is men who pass and humanists, in the first place, because they have not taken their precautions. Our fellow citizens were no more guilty than others, they forgot to be modest, that was all, and thought that everything was still possible for them, which supposed the scourges impossible. They continued to conclude deals and prepare trips, they had opinions. How would they have thought of the plague, which suppresses the future, changes of place and discussions? They thought themselves free, and no one will ever be free as long as there are scourges."
Albert Camus, The Plague, 1947 (ed. It. 2005, pp. 30-31).
Just to say that it took me a while to get the measure of our "scourge", which is not the plague, obviously, but which reminds us how we human beings should be more "modest" in front of nature. And instead we move from the arrogance of altering the Earth's climate (talking about recklessness seems difficult to me) to fear in the face of unfamiliarity with our finiteness. And if today we rightly honor the "heroism of the few" (the health workers who fight every day and every night for public health and the good of all), then it will take the ambition of ideas, the Promethean greatness and the heroism of all, to rebuild on different and better foundations. Now we have to make ourselves small, then we will have to go back to thinking of ourselves capable of impossible feats. Getting the timing wrong, anticipating or postponing the movement, will simply cause the ball to fall to the ground. It's a reminder, nothing more.
"A pestilence isn't a thing made to man's measure; therefore we tell ourselves that pestilence is a mere bogy of the mind, a bad dream that will pass away. But it doesn't always pass away and, from one bad dream to another, it is men who pass away, and the humanists first of all, because they haven't taken their precautions. Our townsfolk were not more to blame than others; they forgot to be modest, that was all, and thought that everything still was possible for them; which presupposed that pestilences were impossible. They went on doing business, arranged for journeys, and formed views. How should they have given a thought to anything like plague, which rules out any future, cancels journeys, silences the exchange of views. They fancied themselves free, and no one will ever be free so long as there are pestilences."
Albert Camus, The Plague, 1991 New York: Vintage Books (Random House), p. 37. (Translation by Stuart Gilbert)
This is just to say that it took me a while to measures up our "scourge", which is obviously not the plague, yet it reminds us that, as human beings, we should be more "modest" towards nature. Instead, we oscillate between being so arrogant to upset the Earth's climate (as mere carelessness does not begin to describe our behaviour) and the fearful of our finitude, which we are not used to face. If today we rightly honour "the heroism of the few" (the health workers who fight every day and every night for public health and for the good of each everyone of us), later we will need the ambition of ideas, the Promethean greatness and the heroism of all, to rebuild on different and better foundations. Now it is the time to be self-effacing, later we will have to go back to thinking ourselves capable of impossible enterprises. A wrong timing would simply make the ball drop. It is a reminder, nothing more than that.
Prof V.E. Parsi, ASERI Director