“Prudence consists in knowing how to recognise the nature of disadvantages, accepting the lesser evil as good.” — Machiavelli
I teach my children that the greatest proof of intelligence a human being can give is to stay alive. And the more difficult the circumstances or the greater the risks threatening life, the more critical the value of intelligence becomes, both individually and collectively.
I firmly believe that we are born to survive for as long as possible, making full use of our biology to the limits of what is possible, including everything we are capable of feeling, thinking and believing.
I see a multitude of friends, acquaintances and simply fellow members of Humanity genuinely distressed by the pandemic, trying, according to their intelligence and resources, to escape its most devastating consequences.
I want to tell you that I suffer with all those who suffer and lose family members, and that every piece of information about the misfortune of others adds to my own fears and uncertainties.
But collective survival cannot be secured without individual survival, and neither tears nor feigned serenity will carry us through the tunnel of misfortune and keep us safe from tragedy.
We can and should stay at home because it appears to be the most intelligent strategy for preventing the spread of Covid, but we should already begin imagining solutions in case this strategy proves unsuccessful.
For reasons that are not relevant here, I suspect that the pandemic situation will become considerably worse and last far longer than our poorly trained patience will be able to endure.
Weak leadership and majestic silences may imitate a wisdom that does not exist and a courage that cannot be detected, but they will have little effect on the virus of social despair among those who are going to lose everything, even if they retain what matters most — their physical lives.
More than politicians, it will be business leaders who determine the fate of the Country. Frankly, there is little to expect from politicians, lost as always in their soliloquies and the pirouettes of puppets. But we all depend on entrepreneurs and their companies, because without an active society and a resilient economy, all that will remain is poverty and hopelessness, which ultimately leads people to abandon the Country.
Paulo Fidalgo
CEO of Marketividade
