In my country of origin, Argentina, there is a song called ” The City Is Burning Down.” It speaks of a time when a military government took power and the military forces did what they wanted with the country and its people and destroyed it socially, politically and economically. They destroyed their people. They killed her. They chased her. They harassed her. They disappeared. They even controlled how they read. They kidnapped people who were against their regime or had revolutionary ideas and had them taken away. They killed individuals and then heard of no more. People were not aware of this, including myself. On the contrary, many knew, but hid the knowledge. As the song goes ” the city is burning down, it rains in your gray eyes,”
People celebrate and laugh again.
But this carnival, today does not let you sleep, wherever you look, she is there. “As much as one wants to hide, what is, is, and what happens, happens. Problems, even if you want, can not be hidden forever.The president during that time referred to them as those who disappeared. Saying that “they are not, they do not exist”. And you would think how ridiculous that phrase sounds, right? A person can not disappear. A person can flee. He can commit suicide. They can kidnap, kill, hide, protect, or intimidate someone, but a person never truly disappears. It can never cease to exist.
But, the more I start analyzing, I realize how many times in one’s life “the city is burning down” and one lives life as if nothing happened. You go about trying to camouflage how you can, how you want, how you get it. One camouflages with food, with alcohol, with cigarettes, with gym, with work, with study, with drugs, with their children or with friends, with birthdays, with roasts or football matches. It is known that all excess is bad. But this is more than excess.
This is like calling people “disappeared”. It’s like saying that problems do not exist. What we already overcome. It is how to let “the city dry” and let people die and do nothing. It is how to burn and die in it by the flames but with a smile that hides the repressed weeping and the sorrow of the soul.
Today, writing this and when it is read, I can only say one thing. Do not let that, “burn the city.” Do not let someone who asks for help die. Do not ignore it. Do not ignore yourself Do not be an accomplice. Do not help hide what is wrong. Fight as and as far as you can for what you think is fair. How a text by Mario Benedetti says; “Do not give up, please do not give in.
the cold burns, although fear bites. Although the sun is hiding, and the wind is silent. There is still fire in your soul. There is still life in your dreams “Do not stay inside out of fear of going out and surviving and having to endure the pain of burns.” Face the problems. Do not be indifferent Do not let a football game or a beer “disappear” You can not hide your fire and screams when the city is on fire. “When the city is burning down”.