Liberal no. 42/1999
Dear Mina,
in addition to the deaths and catastrophes caused by earthquakes, humans also collaborate in this cosmic havoc with the mistakes being made in nuclear power plants. And so, too, radioactive uranium leaks complete the work of destruction to which we are subjecting our planet. The only note of hope, however, is that man has not lost his capacity for action, even gratuitous action, to solve impossible situations. I am referring specifically to the 18 technicians who risked their lives to stop the radioactive leak in Japan. Do you think they are fools or heroes?
Jacopo A., Modena
The nuclear dragon must be tamed with bare hands. The fact is there before our eyes with all its provocative force.
Everything was to be governed by the automatic mechanisms of technology in that cathedral of the future erected near Tokyo. But danger is always lurking when manipulating matter. And when the unforeseen and catastrophic eventuality materializes, after the alarm and anxiety comes the speculation to implement the most effective strategy. Calculations, stratagems, chemical formulas that do not eliminate the unknowns of a desperate undertaking. The nuclear volcano looks no one in the face. Robots or artificial instrumentation are not needed to win an unequal duel. It takes that element that still corresponds to the name Man.
The nuclear dragon must be tamed with bare hands. Since technology cannot remedy itself, one has to face the monster head-on, with courage, without arcangious immunity.
Prompted by the possible massacre coming from that radioactive hearth, eighteen men came forward who, either through spontaneous intemperance or ingrained conviction, competently solved the problem, revealing to themselves and to the world at large the enormity and greatness of life. And here they are, then, sacrificed to save their own countrymen and, perhaps, the whole world. They could not have been unaware. The physical memory of the contaminations of Hiroshima and Nagasaki has never been erased from Japan’s wounded soul.
Somewhere between a page from a “Heart” book and the handbook of the perfect suicide bomber, from the country of the Rising Sun comes a story that we catalog among the uplifting episodes of a heroism that, anachronistically, we need more and more. In the face of the dismay and disappointment of the Japanese, but also in the face of the questions of all the people of the world, those in charge of the industry in which the nuclear accident occurred knelt and bowed. They try to apologize and try to end, with an ancient gesture, a modern embarrassment. By sending those eighteen “Christian” samurai, the plant’s leaders denounced shortcomings and errors and folded the weapons of progress, acknowledging the primacy of spirit over matter and affirming the superiority of the person over technology.
It has once again been demonstrated, with a high price, that there is too much disproportion between the ability to do and the ability to control the effects of our action. The man still acts like a foiled child who dares the first attempts and puts himself in danger. So much for advanced civilization.
We continue to glory, in this very century, in technological progress and justify with the alibi of necessity continued research in energy and biology. It is actually not a necessity. It is not enough to say that new ways must be invented to at least guarantee food needs for the whole world. Balls. Demagogy. Redistribution of wealth would be the most advanced technology to be applied. It is not tolerable that today, in the year two thousand, eighty percent of the world’s wealth is in the hands of twenty-five percent of the earth’s population.
It would be time to take a step back, recognize one’s inescapable limitation and give up pulling the string of impossible technological perfection. It must be said, even if one risks ridicule, even if one is looked upon with pity; one must have the courage to call for a stop, even if it seems like capitulation in the face of nature, even if it reveals a wistful longing for a past that is no more.
It would really be a case of taking a step back.
