Eduardo Stefani

In some reflexions about public behavior in a society, I made an analogy with rats behind the curtains of a theatre. They live in a community and they need to stay alive, however, the food is in the centre of the stage and not behind the curtains. It will need the courage of somebody to venture himself, to leave the confort, to run to the stage and find the food, with the risk of being caught and killed.

When he triumphs, everybody benefits and survives, with total dependence on he who put his life at risk to get the resouce so necessary for the common good. The brave will be a natural leader, respected and admired by all.

The problem with the above situation is that an imbalance can be generated at the moment when everybody knows, that there is no need for effort, as the situation will be solved by somebody else. It may take a little more, or less time, but the food will be available safely. Meanwhile, each one takes care of their own interests.

This analogy ilustrates the situation in which we live, because we are always living situations where a decision must be made and there is not the necessary mobilization for a rapid conclusion, because it is much more confortable to stay behind the curtains waiting for the solution, instead of putting ones head at risk and trying to solve the problem with the available resources.

A noble mission will be to find the democratic sense in this process, because we assume that the collectivity must decide and not wait for a generous soul to solve everything. The risk begins at this point, because when we wait for a single action from a person, we cannot guarantee that the prestige and the power obtained by the success will not enchant his mind and then result in single radical acts, accepted by everybody who is behind the curtains.

The decline of a society may begin when individual interests are placed above the collective, regardless of his participation or decision for the common good, because the individual focuses only on his personal territory and the rest somebody else will solve.

This behavior can be found in most everyday situations, including a leak from a faucet in a common area or the vote for the continuity or suspention of a process which affects everybody. All should participate and not just a small minority, worn out by the responsabilities, both collective and individual.

This discussion is beautiful, but in practice is terrible. Because of some national disappointments, the perception that politics is something dirty and dishonourable is common, thus with no guilty conscience, the omission is widespread. Sometimes we go through the same hole, but we do not have courage to take the phone and tell the responsable company the problem. The argument can be that it wont make any difference, but if everybody took the phone in a collective act, would the problem be solved ?

Quantity makes the difference in this case. Mobilization can move moutains. It will need a national conflict for everybody to leave the courtains to join a cause for the common good ?

The rats omission and sedentary behavior behind the curtains cause an imbalance. This lack of interest which we feel over time impacts negatively on the collective common good. When a rat stands up, the power takes his spirit and new problems appear until another one decides to adopt an iron hand and govern in his own way, then he knows the rest are numb and hungry.

[], Eduardo Stefani – 22/06/2005